All Too Familiar
by pirate blondie
Summary: Oh, no. not another 'i got sucked into the story'... oh yes. meet claire, a pirate fanatic who is slightly insane, yet intriguingly down to earth. open your mind, and feel free to laugh. i do.
1. Meet Claire Johnson

[bear with me. the beginning is a little annoying but, that's how I wrote in 8th grade when I started this story. IT GETS BETTER I PROMISE! x pirate blondie x

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"This is Aztec gold, one of 882 identical pieces they delivered in a stone chest to Cortez himself. Blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his armies. But the greed of Cortez was insatiable. So the Heathen gods placed upon the gold a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a single piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity." She recited the line exactly, perfect Barbossa accent and all. She even did the funny eye movements.

Claire Johnson, like any other teenage girl during that time, was completely and utterly obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean. She had nearly every line memorized from start to finish and could accompany the lines with facial expressions, body movements, and even the soundtrack to go with each particular scene. Instead of doing her homework or, and even better investment of time, sleeping, she would stay up into the wee hours of the morning watching the movie several times a week and even twice a night some days. To quote the amazing Barbossa himself she was "consumed by it."

She had first wanted to see the movie because of the intense actions scenes, the fact that it was a story originating from her ultimate favorite ride at Disney World, the music, and of course it co-starred the infamous Orlando Bloom. She had immediately found herself deeply infatuated with Orlando, or Orli as she liked to call him, which she found a bit strange and stalker-like, but she was odd like that and she knew it and most of the people who knew her well knew it, and she still didn't care.

After actually seeing the movie, she loved it! The incredible adventure of piracy and the battle for vengence overtook her (and would essentially brainwash her for the rest of her life). Orli looked great as always, but there was quite a famous actor whom Disney had graciously given her access to gaze upon for the first time in this film: Johnny Depp. And an undeniable, unresistable obsession began. Captain Jack Sparrow was probably the most attractice, most inspiring, most amazing character she had ever had the privellage to know, and he never left her mind. She knew that Johnny Depp was about as old as her mother but that fact didn't matter. Characters were ageless and Captain Jack was as young and ripe as Claire wanted him to be, and therefore, he was perfect.

Her obsession was incontrollable. She was always quoting one line or another or humming the soundtrack or perfecting body language of the Captain himself, training herself to be more and more like him. Her family and friends were becoming **very** annoyed.

" 'Do you think this wise boy? Crossing blades with a pirate?'

'You threatened Miss Swa—' "

"Claire, will you please just STOP IT!! Jesus jones, you are obsessed with that movie!" Her mother Marissa was ordinarily a calm and wonderfully pleasant woman. But when it came to Claire's incesant line recitation, she was quick to crack.

"C'mon Claire. Seriously cut it out. We've all seen the movie and even though we love to hear you take an interest in the art of film making, its getting old...fast!" Coralynn was her closest friend in the world, close enough that they considered themselves sisters (people even believed them at times), and Claire loved her to death.

"Fine then. Haha! Fine! Like the part when she takes the dress—" she cut herself off this time. It was true that she was obsessed. Possibly more than America was obsessed with The OC. But did she care? I think not! She would have more than gladly recited the whole scene and more but she knew that she was already on her mom's nerves. "Never mind..."

----------later...lying in bed..."asleep" wink wink----------

_'I saw the movie,'_ she thought aimlessly, _'and fell in love with it. When I could finally watch it in the comforts of my own home, I am allowed the chance to memorize it and do successfully. Because I am obsessed and crazy and just weird like that and simply totally in love with Johnny Depp and Orli.'_ She let her mind wonder like this often. She was inspired to be a writer someday and so let her mind wander to create a "free mind" as she put it. It was better for the imagination. Plus the fact that she was just weird like that. _'...then when I finally do memorize it,' _she continued to wander,_ 'which only took me ...o what?...like a week...and I get yelled at for it! Grr. People just don't understand. I seem to just have a passion for doing this. I mean I've tried out for 4 plays at school and never made any of them. I think it was just because I don't "do" scripts on the spot like they try to make us do._ _I just can't act from them! I can't put all my emotion into it because I feel like I don't know the character because from the little piece of the script that they give us at auditions, you just can't tell who they are or who they're sposta be! You really need to read the whole script to know the characters. Now if I could improvise, that'd be a totally different story. I'd make all the plays and become a great actress and Johnny Depp would get to meet me and he'd compliment me on my achievements and...and...'_

-yawn-

She fell asleep in mid-thought.

---------actually asleep this time---------

She was in a big room. It had a few people in it but more than just a couple. She didn't recognize any of them. Marissa was there but she was not considered one of the random, unfamiliar people of course. Neither was... Orlando Bloom?!

'_O my God! O my God!_' she started chanting. _'Is it really him?!?'_ (squints to get a better look) (squeals) Some unfamiliar people looked at her oddly. _'IT IS HIM!!! I did I did I did see Orlando Bloom! Ahh tweetie bird... you have me quoting you..._'

Orli sees her squealing and jumping up and down and comes up to her.

"Are you ok, miss...um...?" he waits for her to say her name.

"uhhh...alalalala...um..." she just stood there drooling.

_'Snap out of it, Claire!'_ she said to herself and a tiny little Claire-with-wings popped out of no where, fluttered in front of her face and snapped three times before disappearing again. Weird.

"uhhh..o ya.. sorry. My name's uhh Claire. And yes I'm fine."

"Are you sure, Claire? You don't look so well. Maybe you should stay with me for a little while." He looked honestly worried for her, which was adorable.

"..uh..well..i uhh..sure that'd be GREAT!" she managed her excited squealing this time and followed Orli.

"Where are we going?" she asked innocently.

"I want to show you something." He smiled really big when he said this.

_'Gee I didn't know you were like that Orli...BUT I'LL TAKE IT! I wonder what he's gonna show me'_ She started thinking of all the possibilities...

_'hmm...his imaginary friend? No too childish. How to put suntan lotion on him...ooo funn..or maybe..heh heh. Maybe he'll show me his –'_

"ICK!" a spider crawled by on the wall.

"We're almost there I promise." The whole time they were walking he kept looking back at her and smiling as if he couldn't take his eyes off her but was still too embarrassed to start a conversation.

"Ok...why can't you just tell me where we're going?" He stopped and turned around as she said this.

He looked straight into her eyes. "It's a surprise," he said calmly.

She was embarrassed and felt her face burn but she didn't care. Her stomach was doing back flipps and her lips were tingling and she wanted to kiss him. Right then and there. Just grab him and kiss him. But he turned back around, smiling again, grabbed her hand, and pulled her down a corridor before she ever got a chance.

Finally it looked as if they were at the place Orli was dragging her to.

"Ta-da!" he said and spread his hands out wide.

They were in an ancient, gauntish chamber, lit only by a few candles, hosting several iron barred cells each with small beds in them.

_'Ok think, Claire. Empty small dark room with beds...ooo this should be interesting.'_

"Orli..um..i don't know what to say..." she pulled in closer to him, putting her hand on his chest, and pushed him up against the wall.

"Get a room...well...a bedroom at least" the voice was not of Orli but of...

_'OMYGOD!!!!!!!!! JOHNNY DEPP!!!!!!!!!'_

Johnny, clad in every day casual clothes but still sporting dreads and his pirate hat, stepped out of one of the cells and walked toward them.

"Yes, um, this was the surprise, Claire. I wanted you to meet my friend Johnny."

"Pleasure, luv." He pulled up her hand and kissed it.

_'OMYGOD! JOHNNY DEPP JUST KISSED MY HAND...AND HE JUST CALLED ME 'LUV'!!!!!!!'_

She felt like fainting. The color around her was slowly fading to black and someone was talking—no yelling—yelling something she couldn't make out. Her ears felt like they had plugs in them...

"Claire? Claire?! OO don't drop her!" Orli caught her as she lost consciousness and all went black.

She finally woke up and it was dark. She felt cloth on her face, realized it was her blanket, and popped opened her eyes.

_'No wonder it was so dark,'_ she thought to herself.

Unfortunately, she was not in a mysterious chamber with her two favorite men but in her own bed far outside the realm of her imagination, and she remembered that Coralynn spent the night at her house that night so decided to wake her.

Lazy and still in some awe she neglected to throw off the covers but rolled toward where she figured Coralynn was and saidd out loud: "Omygosh, Cora, get this! I had the best dream last night ever! Orlando Bloom was there and he kept smiling at me and he held my hand and then Johnny Depp was there and he_ kissed_ my hand!"

It was then that she heard the yelling.

Thinking Cora was hurt, she immediately threw off the covers, screaming Coralynn's name all the way, and felt a blast of sea foam hit her right in the eye.

"Ahh, me eye!" she said like in the movie and tried to rub out the burning sensation, but with her non-sea-blasted eye she saw crystal clear turquoise water all around her.

She was floating in her bed in the middle of the ocean.

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So it's kind of dumb... I mean, pretty much all I-got-sucked-into-the-movie's are but it gets better I promise! And sorry if the writing seems a little different at times. Like I said at the beginning I started this in 8th grade and am now editing as a senior in high school currently enrolled in AP Comp with the only _real_ English teach I've ever known: Jen Otterman. So some of it sounds a little advanced while other parts sound kind of choppy and dumb. This is mainly because I'm too lazy to change all of it haha so hopefully it still makes sense. I hope you enjoy the new and improved first chapter and I hope it encourages you to keep reading! Because it DOES get better eventually. If not, you can have my head but until then, keep reading.

:D

x pirate blondie x


	2. Welcome to the Caribbean

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" she was screaming. Or at least she thought she was. She was so scared and confused that nothing was coming out of her mouth as hard as she tried.

She started looking around and noticed people all around her on the docks yelling at each other and giving her funny looks.

_'Oh so that's where the yelling was coming from.'_ She was relieved but still in shock.

"Aye! Who are ye and why'r ye sitting there with your mouth gapin' open like tha'?" Someone from not far behind her said this and she turned around and came face to face with the front of a row boat with a mast.

"Ahh!" she actually screamed this time but only out of surprise.

Finally she saw the person that had shouted to her. Jack Sparrow.

She figured she had to be dreaming again so didn't quite freak out this time.

"Uh..hey...um..a little help here?" she sounded desperate. "I'm taking on water fast." She was, after all, in a bed.

"Aye, that's certainly an interesting vessel ye have there, though I can hardly say anything better for meself. Sure, I can 'elp ye, but I dunno what good it'll do. I'm takin' on water jus' the same." He put his hand out to her and she took it gladly and climbed onto his tiny boat as she watched her bed sink slowly to the bottom of the Caribbean. She was surprised that it wasn't as far down as she thought and looked around her. There were docks not far off.

"Do you think we'll make it in time?" she asked.

"Dunno, miss... I don't believe ye told me ye name." He smiled and his gold teeth sparkled.

"I'm Claire. Pleased to meet you." Her grin was enormous as he took her hand and she curtsied.

"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, and the pleasure is mine." He kissed her hand. "We'r comin' up on Port Royal I think. I'm hopin' she can hold out 'til we can reach the dock." He looked down and so did Claire. Water was leaking in and the boat was already half full.

'_Wait a tick...he grabbed my hand. And I actually felt it! I can't really be dreaming then! Oh my God! Oh my God!'_

Jack reached down and pulled up a wooden bucket. He started filling the bucket and pouring out water when he suddenly looked up and threw down the bucket.

He looked out beyond Claire and stared at three dead men and a sign reading: Pirates ye be warned. He took off his hat respectfully and gave them a solomn look. Claire, also holding her hand to her heart in mournful respect, quietly started humming the music that should have been present but was not.

He turned around and looked at her with a confused look on his face. "What's 'at you're 'umming, Claire?"

_'Ooo he's so hott!'_ she thought to herself as he put his hat back on, still looking confused."Um...nothing. Just a song I know." It was the truth.

"Well let's 'ear it! Ye 'ave such a lovely voice an' all. T'd be a shame to let 'at go to waste."

She rolled her eyes. She knew he was just trying to compliment her but she held her voice in high regard and didn't want to embarrass herself quite yet... "Maybe later."

_'If I get to stay with him as far as to the island scene, and maybe if I can get rid of Elizabeth somehow, I can teach it to him then when I teach him the 'drink up me hearties yo ho' song. Ooo! I know. I can lock her in the secret rum storage place while me and Johnny get drunk...heh heh heh.'_

Changing the subject and craving more conversation with the love of her life she prodded him with a question although she already knew the answer. "So you're a pirate, eh?"

"Ye say it as if it's a bad thing," he grinned, attempting to toss out some more water.

"Well, pirates are only notorious for burning innocent, peaceful villages, raping women, and murdering their husbands for the sake of themselves," she joked, "but you did save me from almost certain death by drowning and if it wasn't for you and your pillaging-filled past, I would not have had the pleasure of enjoying this lovely boat trip." She laughed a little, and he threw the bucket down, standing up to listen to her. He was a little surprised at her lack of hatred for pirates but grinned at her, encouraging her to go on complimenting him. "And for that, Captain Sparrow, I owe you my life. I am in your debt." At that she even threw in a seductive temptation, hips swaying delicately as she walked to the edge of the boat and glancing up, batting her eyes at him as she bent down to pick up the bucket and beginning to toss out water again.

He immediately sprang into action. His mouth dropped open, both from surprise and from yearning, and almost lunged toward her so he was directly behind her when he took the bucket from her hands and threw it over board. "Ahhh, there's no use tryin' to get rid of all this water..." He slyly worked his hands onto her hips and drew himself closer.

Claire felt pretty damn proud of herself. Of course, it wasn't always so difficult to attract a man if a girl played her cards right but she wanted Jack, and she had gotten him pretty quickly. And she liked it.

But she felt like having more fun and dragging this out further so stepped out of his reach and reminded him that the boat was still sinking.

"Don't worry, luv. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow... 'ere. Let me give ye a boost up there so ye can stand on the mast and don't 'ave to get your ankles wet." He gave her a mocking smile. She realized he was making fun of her and she stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed and said, "I'll be up righ' after ye."

He made his hands into a cup-shape, and she put her foot on his hand and climbed up the mast, Jack close behind.

"We're coming up to the dock 'ere pretty soon. Watch ye step..." He stepped off first and helped her off.

"Thank you, Jack...Captain." She wasn't sure what he wanted her to call him.

His voice dropped low. "Shhhh! Don't be sayin' me name so loud 'round places like these, aye? Did ye not see the dead men hanging?" He brought his voice down to a whisper. "But ye can call me Jack, darling."

_'Ahhhh...he called me darling. Wow this is a hell of a good start in the Caribbean! Hmm..i wonder if I'll be seeing Orli, I mean Will, soon.'

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_

So this is a bit harder to edit than I thought. haha I'm a little bit calmer than I was when I first started this and Claire's schere craziness isn't quite apparent in this as it originally was... it'll come back though... she's just warming up to him haha. keeeeeep reading...


	3. Call N Return

After Jack had signed his name into the Book of Port Royal, stolen the change pouch, and Claire had stolen it back out of his pocket when he wasn't looking, they walked for what seemed like hours until he finally stopped. They were in the middle of town and not many people were in the street.

"Hmmm...doesn't seem to be too crowded 'round 'ere, does it? Wonder where everyone is?" Jack looked around, confused, which was sexy...

_'Everyone is getting ready for Norrington's promotion ceremony,'_ Claire thought.

"I 'ave to eh go get some things, Claire." He touched her arm and she felt herself blush. "I'll be back. I promise."

While he was wandering through the stores "getting" some things Claire decided to explore some herself.

_'They didn't show Port Royal much more than the docks, the fort, the prison, and Elizabeth's house in the movie. They didn't show the good stuff like where's the good places to shop and stuff like that. I don't think Jack'll be back for a while so I'll just look around some.'_ She promised herself she would come back to the spot where Jack left her about every 10 minutes so he wouldn't have to wait for her for too long. She knew that they'd need a ship and he was going to try to steal—commondeer—one pretty soon so she tried to hurry.

But once she found the shops with all the old fashioned dresses and accessories she forgot about her promise and lost track of time. When she finally remembered, a half an hour had passed and she began to feel really guilty.

_'Jack couldn't have been getting that much stuff and he's probably wondering where the hell I am. I'M SORRY, JACK! I'M COMING!!!!!!!!!'_

She tried to go back to the place where they split up, but she couldn't find it. She ran one way but found it to be a dead end. She turned back around and tried to run back from where she had just come from but found an alley. Lost again.

_'Aww, shit. I'm lost... and I'm not even in my own time period!'_

"Jack! Jack!!! JACK!!!"

She was screaming loudly but no one was around.

_'BLASTS!'_

She was running all over the place and ended up in another alley. It was dark, very dark, but she didn't care. Claire leaned up against the nearest building and tried to think clearly.

_'OK, I'll get out of this somehow...ok after Jack left, I went into the store on my right and when I came out of the store I went to my—'_gasp

Someone had grabbed her from the side. She hadn't noticed them coming because the alley was dark and she couldn't even see her own shadow despite the blazing sun. She realized her stupid mistake and felt like one of those ditsy blondes in a horror movie that went into the basement with all the lights off and got raped or murdered or cut up into tiny bits or mangled or hanged or... SHIT!

Extremely frustrated with herself, Claire screamed furiously, but her kidnapper put his hand over her mouth.

Now that was _his_ mistake. Claire bit down on his hand hard and he let go and yelped in pain. She didn't even turn to see who it was before she started running. It wasn't two seconds when the person grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Get off me, fucker!"

"Claire, will ye bloody calm down? It's me, Jack!"

She turned around and realized that indeed it was Jack. She was so relieved to see him, she threw her arms around him and fell against him. He held her tightly.

"Oh I'm so glad it's you!"

"Now wha' the hell was all tha' 'bout? Why'd ye bite my hand like tha'? It really 'urt!"

"Well, shit, Jack! You scared the shit out of me!"

She laughed, not at the fact that she hurt Jack but the fact that she thought it was actually someone trying to get her. "I was scared you were someone else."

He looked surprised.

"But who the hell else would it be?"

"I don't know..." she said finally beginning to show her crazy side. Oops. "some psychopathic Hannibal wanting to chop me up and eat my brains. My name's CLAIRE not Clarice! Different!"

"Hannibal? Eating brains?! Who's Clarice?" He pushed her back a bit so he could see her face. He was obviously very confused... wrong time period...

"Never mind. Just hold me!" she smiled.

Jack just grinned his famous grin.

Claire blushed and thought she would melt. She loved the feel of his strong, protective grip.

"Where had ye gone off to anyway?" he asked, slowly rocking her and calming her.

"Just wandering at first but I saw some gorgeous dresses hanging in a window and I don't ordinarily enjoy dresses..." once you got her going she didn't stop... "but these were unlike anything I'd ever seen and I just had to at least look at them and—"

"D'ye want one?" Jack looked a bit critically at the girl's attire. She was in PJ pants and a cami; she must have lost her shirt at some point. "Because I can... well.. ye know ... get one—"

"Jack. You're a pirate. I know you steal. It's not natural for you to actually buy things," she laughed, "you can stop pretending, now."

He grinned. "Great! Let's go then!"

They walked back to the dress store and Claire picked out the one she thought was prettiest: a pale blue satin with black antique flower print along the skirt, cuffs (ending in a V with the point just above her middle knuckle), and the neck (which cut down quite close to her chest), and about the torso, the top seemed to reel in the skirt creating pleats that grew larger as they reached the ground. The material was light and comfortable and it traveled only to about her ankles making it easy to walk, more importantly run, in.

But before Claire could reach the dressing rooms, the store manager was disgusted by the sight of Jack and attempted to shoo them out. Unfortunately for him, Jack walked out with the dress still in his grasp and the manager, overweight as he was, could only chase them as far as two stores before he fell to his knees panting and cursing them.

"I love the smell of fat man sweat in the morning!"Claire yelled back as they two took off toward the docks to commandeer a ship.

---Elizabeth's POV---

The stupid show off was still doing what he did best: showing off. He was flipping his sword all over the place and everyone but her was amazed. Everyone clapped and cheared and 'ooohh'ed and 'ahhh'ed. She thought it was all rubish. This was also caused by the fact that she disliked Norrington because he "fancied" her as her father had said.

_'If that stupid son of a bitch doesn't quit showing off soon and let us go, I'm going to march out of here myself!_

Everyone thought her to be very proper because she was the governor's daughter, a high expectation to live up to, but she actually wasn't at all proper. She was truly bitter and conceited. Overall, she was a stupid hard cold bitch and a whore. She just never showed this side of herself to anyone for fear she would lose her high reputation and make her father look bad.

But Norrington continued to fiddle with his new sword that Will had made for him.

_'Will...'_ she thought distantly. She loved him with all her heart and she was sure that he liked her but he was never forward about it. He made himself seem like she was too good for him, which of course, she was, but he wasn't supposed to give up on the fact that they should be together because of class difference.

Even as she thought about Will, she could not get over her dislikeness for Norrington.

_'You slimy, mangy, snotty, good-for-nothing, pig-stealing—'_

Even though it made her feel better to trash talk Norrington in her head, she still felt discomfort both with him and with the corset pulling tightly on her chest.

_'I don't know how people breath in these things.'_

Finally Norrington was done showing off and everyone scattered. Elizabeth was chatting lightly with her father but he scurried off, unfortunately, when Norrington approached.

"May I have a moment?" he asked and even though she wanted to scream _'NO'_ and spit in his face, she said yes, breathlessly. One, because she didn't want to give herself a bad image and two because she didn't have enough air to scream. She felt woozy.

---Claire's POV---

Jack and Claire watched as the men guarding _The Interceptor_ argued over whether _The Black Pearl_ was a real ship or not.

"You've seen a ship, with black sails, that's crewed by the damned, and captained by a man so evil..." blah blah blah.

While the two were bickering, Jack motioned for Claire to follow him and sneak onto _The Interceptor_. She laughed silently because it was so incredible! She was actually on the ship that Jack and Will single-handedly crewed to Tortuga. She held her new dress up to her and twirled absent mindedly round and round.

Jack immediately ran towards the stern and by the time the two guards stopped arguing and realized they were gone, he was already at the helm, pretending to be steering the ship.

"Hey, you! Get away from there!" Murtogg said.

"You don't have permission to be aboard there, mate." Mullroy said.

"Oh sorry," Jack lied. "It's just such a pretty boat. Erhm- ship."

"What's your names?"

"What _are_ your names," Claire corrected.

"What?"

"You said what _is_ your names. That's not proper grammar. What _are_ your names is correct. Say it!"

The navy men looked at her like she was crazy, looked at each other, then looked at Jack who just shrugged.

"Well, erhm, what _are_ your names?

"Ye can call me Smithy, if you like. And Ms. Perfect Grammar, there, is Clarice."

Claire smiled but shuddered.

"Yeah? Well, what's your purpose in Port Royal, Mr. Smith? No lies!"

"It's his intention to commondeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer his weasley black guts out," Claire blurted out.

Once again the guards looked at her, astonished that a lady like her would say something like that. Even Jack looked at her weird.

"What?" she ask innocently.

"How'd ye know I was gonna say that?" he eyed her suspiciously.

"Uhhhh...lucky guess?"

---Elizabeth's POV---

Norrington was totally hitting on her. She could see the lust in his eyes and that made her dislike him even more. He was blabbing on about something but she couldn't hear and didn't care. The pain in her chest was on her mind, and she was trying to keep from falling over.

It wasn't until she heard the word 'marrige' that she actually began to listen.

He was proposing! Didn't he know that she hated him? Hadn't she given him enough hints for him to at least _suggest _that she hated him?

All she could manage to say was "I can't breath," which was the truth. However, all her efforts of trying to keep from falling failed. She fainted and fell over the edge of the short wall, plumiting towards the water.

---Claire's POV---

_'3...2...1...oop! There she goes!'_

Claire had been counting down the seconds until Elizabeth fell and she was dead on, as always.

Murtogg, Mullroy, and Jack, who had just been chatting about a remote tribe that had perceived Jack as a god and made him chief, had no idea what was going on until they heard the splash.

She looked up almost instinctively to look for Norrington and there he was, leaning over the wall, taking off his coat, and Gillette running over to stop him from jumping in after her. She could have swore she heard him yell 'Elizabeth!'

"JUMP, JAMESY! JUMP!" she yelled, but Gillette was warning him about the rocks already. _'Damnit.'_

Claire looked over at Jack, and he was taking off all his effects...and his hat. He looked over at her not bothering to ask what the hell she was talking about, like he expected her to help.

"Fine..." she said after a couple of seconds. She didn't want to save Elizabitch but Jack had given her an 'I'm-a-total-hottie-so-do-it-for-me' look and she gave in almost immediately.

Claire didn't want to have anything to do with Elizabitch, and she sure as hell didn't want Jack to have anything to do with her. She felt selfish, but she didn't care. Jack was at least _physically_ attracted to her and she didn't want anyone getting in the way of that.

But even she knew that Elizabitch was going to be an obstacle reguardless. That's what the entire Pirates of the Caribbean story was about, wasn't it? Will and Jack set out to rescue Elizabitch? Well...not so much Jack but still, he goes with Will, and there was no escaping the fact that she was going to be fighting for Jack's attention from now on.

She had to get rid of her somehow. Not by killing her or by any sort brutality, for that was unfortunately not an option as Jack and Will would surely turn on her.

But she definitely had to get rid of her.

Somehow.

Someway.

No matter what it took.

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WHOA! long... haha. I completely changed the transition from getting lost to Claire and Jack heading to the docks. I hope that's a bit more entertaining haha. keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep going!


	4. Same Old Norrington

woooot so this part is almost completely revised...

* * *

SPLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Claire crashed into the warm Caribbean water just after Jack. She was happy in the water. It was her element. She was pretty much a fish out of water. She was having fun until she remembered why she had originally jumped in.

_'Oh yeah we're saving the lizard...right..'_ She reluctantly gave up her play time and swam after Jack.

She had begun to call Elizabeth 'the lizard' because Elizabeth shortened to 'Liz' and she didn't like her. [A/N: and I'm tired of typing out 'Elizabitch' because I'm lazy. Yay!

Of course the lizard had the medallion on and it made the 'wave and boom' thing that it had done in the movie and the wind picked up and it blew off one of the idiot guard's hats and everything else.

Claire even felt a wave flit through her body.

"Whoa..."

Claire stuck her face in the water and looked for Jack. He was already pretty far down and reaching for the lizard.

Claire didn't want him to do that. She didn't want him _near_ her.

_'He's mine!'_ she thought. _'I found him first and he called me luv so hands off, ho!'_

The lizard, of course, didn't hear Claire 1) because she was unconcious and 2) because Claire had thought it to herself, but she screamed at her anyways.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She dove under the water and propelled herself as fast as she could to get to Jack. He was already pulling her up by the time she got there, and she helped him by grabbing one hand while he held the other.

_'That way she won't have to hang on him.' _

Claire kicked peacefully, enjoying the reflection of sunlight on the sea's quells and taking in the view from below the surface.

She felt Liz being tugged from her as Jack swam faster toward the surface, however, Claire felt like drowning Liz and kept her pulled down grinning maliciously. Jack snapped his head around looking incredulously at her. Claire merely shrugged and looked innocent motioning for him to go on and that she could get her. As Jack kicked toward the surface, Claire wasted time by pretending to waltz with the proper bitch. She took her hand and stepped not-so-gracefully to three-four time and made her spin but she dropped her. Reluctantly she swam after her and as she looked up she saw Jack hovering above her on the surface with his mouth open, confused. She rolled her eyes and dragged Elizabeth back to the surface.

"What the hell were you doing?!"

"Uh... well her dress flowed so pretty like in the water and I thought it'd be neat to make her dance" she smiled innocently, all the while letting her sink slowly below the surface again. He grabbed her back up.

"Ye know, ye could give me a hand here!"

She swam over to Jack, who was slipping below the surface that very moment, and grabbed one of the lizard's arms.

"She's too heavy in this dress." Jack splurted just before he went under water again. "She'll have to lose it."

_'Damn...'_ she thought. _'This girl is sooo lucky to be being undressed by Jack Sparrow right now! Why can't this kind of stuff happen to me, eh?!?'_

Jack slipped under and pulled off the dress as Claire watched enviously from above.

Somehow Claire and Jack managed to get her over the edge of the dock. The guards grabbed her and laid her back on the dock.

"Not breathing!" one of them said desperately.

"Move!" Jack yelled but before he could cut her corsett off, Claire grabbed the blade from his hand and said, "I'll do it. I've had experience with this before."

There it was. Claire had the blade in her hand, which was conveniently hovering above an unconcious Elizabeth. The temptation was almost too great...

"Well, I'm not so sure I trust ye with a knife, luv—" but she had already cut the strings and ripped the corset from Elizabeth's poor wet pathetic body. She had reminded herself of the consequences of killing the lizard but failed to surpress a laugh as she coughed and spurted.

"I never would have thought of that," one of the guards said. This used to be one of her favorite lines in the movie so she said it.

"Clearly you've never been to Singapor." Jack gave her a mysterious look when she said that but she shrugged it off. It was then that Jack noticed the medallion.

"Where did you get that?" he asked reaching for it.

"Jack, get back!" Claire whispered in his ear.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it. Get off the liza- I mean Elizabeth right now or you're gonna be in even more trouble than you already are!"

"On your feet." said an oh too familiar voice. Norrington.

Shit.

Claire and Jack looked up simultaniously. There was a sword pointed in Jack's face and a gun in hers.

"Elizabeth, are you alright?" Claire looked around and saw Govenor Swann beside Norrington. He helped Elizabeth up.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine." She looked at Jack with an odd look on her face.

Before Govenor Swann could say anything, Claire shouted, "Are you really going to shoot us? We just saved her life and all..."

Norrington looked at Elizabeth for approval. She nodded.

"I believe thanks are in order." Norrington stuck out his hand.

Claire was going to try to stop Jack from shaking Norrington's hand but she liked this part because Jack made a total 'in-your-face' escape and looked uber-sexy while doing it.

Jack stuck out his hand as well, hesitantly, and when Norrington grabbed it he of course pulled up his sleeve and saw the pirate brand.

"Had a brush with the East-India trading company, did we, pirate?"

Jack winced at the sound of _'pirate'_ as he realized his stupid mistake.

"Keep your guns on him, men. Gillette, fetch some irons." As Norrington barked orders Claire was thinking to herself how _she_ was going to get out of this mess.

_'Alright, they're capturing us. What next? Jack escapes in his uber-sexy way but that trick only works for one person. What about me?! SHIT! I knew I should have done something to screw things up! Damn...'_ She continued to cuss herself out while Norrington pulled up Jack's sleeve even more and recognized him.

"Well, well. Jack Sparrow isn't it?"

"Cáptain Jack Sparrow."

"I don't see your ship, Captain."

"I'm in the market, as it were."

"He said he'd come to commondeer one." Jack gave an indignant look to Murtogg.

"Well, Captain, who's this little lass? Your mistress?" Now, the comment was not necessarily offending to Claire. It made some sense to assume that a girl willingly running around with a pirate would be in it for sex and money. But when Norrington smiled that wickedly pompous smile of his, Claire's firey hatred for him blazed greater than ever. It was not an innocent assumption; he intended those words to sting and he full well knew and _enjoyed_ making the assumption. Not only was he a conceited ass hole, but also he had no class!

Her eyes flashed furiously, but she gave no other indication of ingidnance or anger.

She felt like messing with his head.

"Yes, Commodore. I just couldn't help myself. Jack is, of course, the sexiest man alive."

Jack looked at Claire, a little surprised at her retort, then gave Norrington a little smirking nod, provoking him.

Norrington just stood there looking like a dumb ass with his mouth hanging open.

"And you, however, are and shall always be a disgusting little bastard!!!" and Claire spit in his face.

Norrington looked surprised at both her words and her saliva on his cheek.

She was beginning to feel smug when she felt a hard smack across her face.

"I will NOT tolerate ANYONE saying such things to me, especially from a whore like you!"

His hand stung on her cheek but it wasn't the pain that caused her to stagger backward into Jack. She was absolutely stunned. Yes, she knew Norrington was a scumbag, but she had no idea that he would go as far as to do something to hurt her _physically_.

Claire calmed the "whoa" factor and balanced herself while attempting to keep Jack from slaughtering Norrington. Aw, he was standing up for her!

"Jack!" she yelled fiercely. He finally turned toward her grinning face, his eyes blazing. She lowered her voice so only he could hear her and she smirked. "He hits like a pussy. We'll get him later, alright?"

Jack repressed a smirk and turned around to face Norrington again.

"Oh how precious. The pirate is standing up for the slut. She must have paid you well, Jack. Or is it that you really like this sorry excuse for a woman?"

If Claire really gave a rat's ass as to what Norrington thought, she might have actually been hurt. But since she laughed at the ridiculous image of herself as a slut and Norrington was pretty much the scum of all the earth, his words barely made her flinch.

Jack had half way re-collected himself and innocently smiled at Norrington but his eyes held the image of a slaughtered Commodore.

"What? No retaliation, Jack?"

Wrong again!

Unfortunately, Jack's escape plan only worked for one person.

Claire started scheming.


	5. Escape of the Whore

Elizabeth was shocked at Norrington's harsh words towards this poor girl. Actually she wasn't shocked because Norrington was indeed a bastard but she still didn't think the girl deserved such harsh treatment.

_'She looked sweet enough and not nearly the material of a slut! Her clothes certainly were...bizarre...but didn't reveal anything! A real slut would have been letting her boobs fall out and been trying to sex-talk her way out of everything. This girl,'_ she thought truly, _'is NOT a slut.'_

"You know I'm right, Sparrow, so just stop trying. There is nothing you can do now that will save yourself."

[I feel like starting a count of how many times the Commodore can be wrong.

He grabbed Claire's arm tightly.

"We might as well lock up her too, since prostitution is also a crime."

Jack was enraged. Sure, it was his mistake letting Norrington reveal the brand, and he found it somewhat logical to assume Claire was a whore of sorts merely for the fact that she was with him. But physically hitting Claire and jailing her without any basis but for being Jack's companion was bitterly distasteful. Claire didn't seem to be affected too much. Hell! She played along with it, but Norrington was still a bloody bastard.

And though he hated him so, he was right. He liked Claire. He found himself enjoying the girl's company more and more. She was oddly intriguing...

Claire watched helplessly as Gillette pulled Jack away from her and clapped him in irons. Norrington had a good grip on her and she couldn't do anything at the moment.

Suddenly, the lizard came back into the picture and started yelling at the sorry excuse for a man and came after him.

"Commodore, I really must protest! Pirate and whore or not, these people saved my life!"

"One good deed is not enough to redeem people of a lifetime of wickedness."

Calmly, half-consciously Claire blurted out the line: "Though it seems enough to condemn them."

Norrington spun around and stared at her with hatred in his eyes. "Indeed," he said.

She glared back. In a staring contest, she would have, hands down, kicked his ass.

But now, Gillette had finished cuffing Jack and she had made up her mind about her scheme. She caught Jack's eye and smiled sweetly at him. He winked back and turned his attention to Elizabeth as if reading her mind.

"Finally." Jack threw the iron chains around the lizard's neck and she squealed, startled.

"No, don't shoot!" Govenor Swann looked very anxious and pale.

"I knew you'd warm up to us." He said this to Elizabeth and then looked up at Claire with a look that said 'trust-me-I-think-I-know-what-I'm-doing.'

"Commedore, my effects please! And my hat!"

Norrington was frozen, just staring. He couldn't do a thing.

"Commedore!" Jack repeated and he awoke from his shock.

Norrington reached around to one of the army men and retrieved Jack's effects. He handed them to Elizabeth.

"Now let Claire go," Jack said once he had his pistol pointed at the lizard's head.

Norrington let go and Claire's arm tingled. The blood was finally able to get to her fingers again.

She walked seductively over to Jack, acting of course, carressed his cheek and said, "I'll see you soon."

She winked. He grinned.

In an instant she weighed her odds and luck and ran to the edge of the dock, a bit upset that she was missing Jack's miraculous escape. Without looking back, she dove into the warm Caribbean water and began swimming to shore.

Norrington was bewildered. It was perhaps one of the oddest moments he had ever wittnessed.

* * *

probably one of the oddest anyone has wittnessed... she's crazy!


	6. Sniper

Jack, being the sexy beast that he is, escaped exactly as he was supposed to. Norrington ordered his men to open fire, just as he was supposed to.

However, as the navy men were shooting he pulled two men aside. He made sure only those two could hear and told them exactly what he wanted them to do.

They headed off along the dock towards the shore, searching the turquoise waters.

Claire swam deep beneath the surface, feeling a little foolish. She had decided to swim because she figured she could disappear with more ease in the water. She was also afraid that if she had simply bolted that someone else would take hold of her farther down the road or that she would just be fired upon as soon as Jack went flying through the air. And now as she slowly pulled herself to shore and safety, she wondered if it was the better choice. Still she tried to make the best of it, swimming here and there, flipping and twisting playfully, deeper and deeper toward the more concealing, less crystal clear depths. She knew that Norrington would probably send someone after her once Jack released the lizard, and indeed gun shots were audible from somewhere above. She hoped that Norrington's men wouldn't be able to find her as easily in the depths.

It worked. Sort of. The marines couldn't see her, but were shooting everywhere to compensate.

The bullets seemed to be coming from only one side of the dock so she crossed to the other side. But there were more bullets there. As she kicked off to cross back again she realized the bullets were following the clouds of sand kicked up by the wake of her strokes. She quickly latched on to one of the support beams beneath the dock and waited. Staring up at the wooden planks above her she saw the faint shadows of two men slowing their pace and moving back and forth, searching for her. Their bullets had ceased. Barely moving as to not upset the sea bed, she grabbed and hand full of rocks and threw them as far away from her as the water would allow while she pulled herself away in the opposite direction. The bullets attacked the new cloud of sand made by the rocks while Claire made her escape toward land, using the chilly shadows of the dock as a shield. Fortunately for her, in all the confusion, a nurse shark was disturbed from her peaceful camoflauge of sun baked sand and swam away, creating more sand clouds as she did so. The marines never noticed their real target crawl out from under the dock at the shore and sop into the safety of the palm trees. Idiots...

After she was well enough concealed by the palm trunks she climbed one as high as she dared and watched the entire navy run off the docks into the town.

Jack was safe. And so was she.

She felt smug again.

* * *

short and almost ALL revised but oh well. I like this better... makes more sense I think. continueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


	7. Brown and red

Jack ran inside J. Brown's blacksmith shop hiding from the marines.

Claire looked up at him from the middle of the shop, sitting, waiting for him.

Claire put on her best pirate accent, " 's good to see ye, cap'n!"

Jack laughed and walked toward her.

He didn't bother asking how she got there.

Holy shit was she beautiful. Even dripping wet from head to toe with severely messed up hair, she had that sweet smiling face, causing her to look more than decent.

"I'd say we make a pretty good team, eh, Sparrow?" She held out a hand to high five him, but Jack, not knowing what to do with it just pulled her to her feet, where she stood and swayed a little.

"Are you alright, luv?"

"Yeah! Couldn't be better! Why?"

"Ye just look a bit pale... What happened out there?"

"Well, Norrington decided he'd try to be cool and sent two snipers after me. But, I got away. HA!"

"Ye dodged a sniper's bullets?" Jack looked not impressed but surprised, almost doubtful.

"Hell yeah! You seem surprised, Captain. You doubt me?"

"I don't think anything _you_ do can surprise me anymore," he teased and tried to hold her glare but she won. His eyes landed on the sleeping man in the corner.

Claire followed his gaze and also spotted a passed out Mr. Brown.

"He's been drinking the entire night and into this morning. Don't worry about him one bit."

But Jack still had to find out on his own, so he went over to Mr. Brown, poked him, then screamed at him before he was satisfied.

"Told you," Claire smirked and walked over to start drawing on passed out man with a piece of charcol while Jack attempted to break his shackles.

After a little while of trying to break his chains with a hammer, Jack got frustrated and started shaking his chains with a very annoyed look on his face.

Claire just laughed.

Jack looked at the donkey, then at the coal pit, then back at the donkey.

"Jack, NO! Do not hurt that innocent little ass!"

"Alright, Claire. Ye've really got to tell me how you know every move I'm going to make," Jack demanded.

"La la la la la!" Claire was coaxing the donkey along and singing, but really she was just avoiding that confusing explanation that even she didn't know the whole answer to.

Jack shrugged it off, very confused (and a little annoyed), and broke his chains on the spinning gears.

Claire scanned the shop for a place where she could see every bit of the action that was coming up. She decided upon the spot where Mr. Brown was passed out, but for now she needed a place to hide. She couldn't let Will see her just yet, it would ruin everything. In the corner nearest her she found some potato sack looking things and covered herself in them.

—CREEK—

Claire heard the door close and Will walked in.

_'Tra la la la la la la! Hmm...what about that pirate they're looking for. Hope I don't stumble upon him.'_

He calmed the donkey who was still trotting around the rotating beam he was attached to. He had been very excited to be petted and when Claire left, he didn't stop walking but instead ran faster.

"Right where I left—," Will said noticing the drawings on Mr. Brown's drunken face.

Claire heard Will spin around and begin to pick up the hammer from the anvil, "Not where I left you."

—SLAP—

Claire threw the potato sacks off of her and scooted over to Mr. Brown.

Will immediately turned, the sword coming up to greet his face. Holding onto the sword was a very dirty man.

"You're the one they're hunting. The pirate." He said this while walking backward slowly. The pirate glanced in the direction of the wall and did a double take and rolled his eyes, smirking. Will looked too and found a pretty girl who looked a bit sick but was smiling. The girl shrugged her shoulders and nodded at Will who turned, brow furrowed in utter confusion, to face the pirate again.

"You look somewhat familiar. 'ave I thretened you before?"

"I make a point of avoiding familiarity with pirates." He looked at the girl again and found that she was mouthing every word he and the pirate said as they spoke them.

He gave her another confused look but when the pirate glanced back around at her, she made an innocent face.

Brat.

"Well, then it would be a shame to put a black mark on your record, now if you'll excuse us." The pirate turned to leave and sheathed his sword.

_'I'm not going to just let them walk out of here!'_ Will thought.

He grabbed a sword from the nearby rack and pointed it into the pirate's face.

Claire was ecstatic! She mouthed along with Jack.

"Do you think this wise, boy? Crossing blades with a pirate?"

"You threatened Miss Swann."

Jack touched his sword with the boy's and ran the length of it down and back up. So sexy.

"Only a little."

He took a stab at the boy and the boy blocked it. Every swing he took at him, the boy blocked. Of course Jack wasn't using all of his effort, thinking he would need it more if Norrington came in, but the boy was good for a blacksmith.

Claire couldn't believe it. She was actually witnessing her favorite scene in the movie. Her heart began to beat faster and faster. _'This is amazing!'_

While Jack and Will paried, she leaned against the unconcious Mr. Brown, surprised to find that drunk men are actually pretty comfortable.

"Go Jack, go Jack!" She flashed him a big smile.

"That your mistress over there?" Will said as he took a big swing at Jack.

Claire heard him and laughed.

"I am NOT his mistress! Why does everyone keep saying that?!"

"Well, ehrm, I've 'ad, ehrm, a reputation for, um, well, ye know." Jack gave her a quick look that said _'I'm guilty but forgive me 'cause I'm hott.'_

"Jack, watch out!" he turned just in time to see Will's sword coming towards him.

"Thanks for that, luv." Claire nodded. Jack turned back to Will. "You know what you're doing. I'll give ye that. Excellent form. But how's your foot work? First I step here," –sword clangy noises– "very good. Now I step again." –more sword noises– Jack sheathed his sword and motioned for Claire to come with him.

"Ta!"

He jumped up the stairs and was reaching for the door when...

–THOOMP! Doing-oing-oing-oing-oiing-oiiing-oiiiing... –

Claire cracked up laughing, both because of Jack's 'OMG' face he was making and because she knew it was stuck.

"Hoo-hoo-hee-hee-haha-hoho-"

Her insane laughter caused both Jack and Will to laugh, but only a little. Under the circumstances, it was not an appropriate time for them to be laughing. Well, it wasn't for Claire either, but whatever.

Jack grabbed the handle of the sword and tried to pull the sword out of the door. But, of course, just like in the movie, it was stuck.

"Hahahahahaha-heeeeheeee!"

"Jesus woman! Shut up! It's not that funny! I mean, I laughed but not that hard! You must be daft... or drunk." Will said that all with a very annoyed look on his face.

Claire couldn't shut up. She tried but every time she began to calm down another huge fit of giggles consumed her.

"That is a wonderful trick! But once again, you are between me and my way out. And now," Jack unsheathed his sword, "you have no weapon."

Will looked as if he was trying to conjure up a plan when he turned quickly around, pulled a iron rod out of the hot coals, and held it up to Jack's face. Jack had another 'OMG!' face on and Claire began shrieking, rolling on the ground.

"Jack Sparrow, that is the funniest look I have ever seen you wear! Haha hee hee ho ho..."

He flashed her his half-golden teeth as he jumped off the stairs to get away.

A few minutes later, Jack swung down off of the wooden plank on which he was currently fighting with Will. However, Will jumped down faster and Jack looked as if he was trapped, but that never stopped him. He grabbed the sand bag off of the wall of the coal pit and pointed the open end at Will. Sand flew all over Will and he had to shield his eyes. Jack kicked away his sword, pulled out his gun and pointed it straight at Will.

When Will finally regained his sight, he grabbed fire tongs to hit Jack with but he noticed the gun at his nose.

"You cheated!" he said with an exasperated look on his face.

Jack smiled his gold toothed grin. "Pirate."

Mr. Brown flinched. He was waking up. Claire sat up so that she was level with his drunken smelly face.

"Move away!" Jack yelled.

"No!"

Those two argued while Claire tried to calm Mr. Brown, not surprised to find that drunk men tend to get cranky if they have a skinny little girl sitting on them, not allowing them to get up.

"No Mr. Brown! Just sit down and go back to sleep! NO! Bad!"

Jack had his gun pointed at Will.

"This shot is not meant for you."

–BREAK–

The men both looked over at Claire who was holding a broken bottle of alcohol. Mr. Brown had crashed to the floor, out cold.

She laughed and then swayed. She had stood up to hit Mr. Brown and became very dizzy.

She kept laughing and swaying some more switching back and forth. She looked drunk. Or high.

Jack laughed and Will tried very hard not to but failed.

Then Claire fell over. She layed on her side, face towards the ground, and did not move.

Jack stopped laughing and ran over to her.

A red ring was growing on her back.

Claire woke up with her shirt off.

"Whoa..."

Her head was swimming.

Jack was hovering over her, poking her side.

"HA! Jack that tickles, ow! No, that hurts. Stop! Why is my shirt off?"

"I didn't think ye were well, luv."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ye've been shot."

She just looked at him. Fuck. She _humpf_ed and put her hands over her eyes, embarassed, and immediately pulled them down when she remembered she was still shirtless. She hated needing help in general. She hated feeling vulnerable and having to put her life in someone else's hands when she would much rather do things herself and blame herself if something went wrong. She especially resented medical help as she prided her infallible immune system and her body's amazing natural healing process.

Jack turned to talk to the boy, looking very anxious.

"We've got to get her to a doctor. Ye know where to find one, boy?"

Will looked at Claire's wound and looked sympathetically at her. Then his glance became cold again.

"You're probably just forcing her to play along with you so you can get out of here!"

It was Claire's turn to speak.

"No, no, Will, you've got it all wrong! You see—"

"How the bloody hell did you know my name?" He was looking at her as if there was a giant purple octopus on her head.

"Oh, uh, I've, um, heard your name said by someone else before. Anyway... You see, I met Jack here when my bed—I mean, um, ship—was taking on water and he helped me onto his little boat. I don't think I would have been able to make it to shore without Jack's help. He saved my life. I am in his debt, so I stayed with him. But then, he was trying to save Elizabeth from drowning but Norrington didn't want to give him any credit because he's a pirate and so they started shooting and I got shot I guess. I didn't know. I thought I out smarted the snipers..."

Will just looked at her.

It was ludicrous. The girl had left out a few things, that's for sure. Like the part about this man—pirate—Jack as she called him, threatening Elizabeth and then using her to get him out of trouble.

But then he looked at the sincerety in the girl's eyes and how beautiful and shiny they were and he could not just walk away from that.

_'Ahh, why do I always have to fall for these sort of things?'_

"Alright, alright, I'll let you go, but I'm coming with you. We're going to get this girl cleaned up and then I'm going to have to turn you in. Who would have thought," he said sarcastically, "that it's a crime to help criminals."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, Will!" She ran up and gave him a big hug.

_'Woah! Wasn't expecting that! I'm turning her in after all,'_ Will thought.

"Umm," he said awkwardly. "You're welcome?"

Will attempted to back away and Jack just stood grinning at her. She still didn't have her shirt on. She let go of Will and concealed herself in a flash and swayed again. Jack steadied her and pulled her into him, further concealing her while Will picked up her bloodied shirt.

Jack's inceasant persisting allowed him to help her put her shirt on again and she could feel his exitement. It was poking her...

She laughed, feeling slightly awkward, but the butterflies in her stomach had taken flight and yearned for his touch.

Will was getting annoyed. "Hurry up or I'm not taking you anywhere and I'll turn you in now."

"Don't be such a stiff, Will..." she said groggily. "Hahaha... stiff, Jack! Hey! Where's my dress? It was so beautiful..." And she fell back against Jack again, her head rolling into the crook of his shoulder. She was almost out but conscious enough to walk with Jack's support.

"Where to, lad?"


	8. Memories

OMG THE SEQUEL IS AMAZING! i've seen it twice already! haha. shocking surprises but it's so so so so amazing! ahhh! oh and heads up: this is probably my last chapter for a while. i'm leaving for three weeks onthe 9thso... yeah. enjoy! i'll be back before you know it. 

x pirate blondie x

* * *

Claire woke up again and put her shirt back on. Will was the first to step out of the blacksmith shop. He poked his head out the door and looked for any red coats or important-looking people.

"Nope. No one out here. Let's go."

Now she and Jack krept outside carefully, looking around as if not trusting Will. Jack grabbed her hips and pulled her at his side.

"Better stay close, luv. Incase you faint again, of course." He grinned at her with his treasure chest mouth.

"Damnit, Jack! Stop! I feel stupid enough already. Only pathetic people faint." She pouted.

"Ah, you're not pathetic, luv. I think blood loss is a good enough reason to faint." He smirked. "But ye'd better stay close all the same."

"Oh, I wouldn't _dream_ of straying away, Captain."

"I told ye, ye can call me Jack!"

Claire giggled. "Alright, Captain."

Will looked back at them both and rolled his eyes.

"Come on, will you! We need to be as inconspicuous as possible."

"Inconspicuous... HA!" She started singing. "Life could be a dream. Life could be a dream! Do doot doot doot SH-BOOM!" While singing, she ran up to Will, linked arms with him and swung him around once before letting go and returning to Jack and dancing with him. "Oh, life could be a dream SH-BOOM, if I could take you up in paradice up above SH-BOOM, if you would tell me I'm the only one that you love life could be a dream sweetheart!"

Will rolled his eyes at her.

On and on they walked. They passed some familiar stores Claire had walked by the first time through town, when she'd gotten lost.

_'There's the old fashioned dress shop that I lost track of time in. Oh look! There's the alley that Jack scared the shit out of me in. Haha. And where I bit his hand. Oops.'_

She looked down at Jack's hand. There were still teeth marks on it. It was blue-ish colored and she guessed that it was a bruise.

She grabbed his hand and whispered in his ear:

"Sorry I bit your hand, Jack. I wasn't thinking clearly then 'cause I was all in a panic, and I just thought that ye were someone else."

_'Ye? Did that just come out of my mouth?' _

"It's OK, luv. I know ye wouldn't have bitten me if you knew it was me. But I think ye'v been too much time around pirates. Ye'r beginning to talk like one. Not that that's a bad thing, just that I never would have thought it'd come outta ye." He laughed a little.

"Come on, you two! We're almost there. The hospital's only a block away from here." Will had slowed a bit so Claire and Jack could catch up.

The three of them walked in silence until they came to the hospital. It didn't look like a hospital. It looked about the same quality as Will's blacksmith shop. It was dirty and grimy and nasty and anything except what a hospital should look like.

There was a white sign above the door that had a red cross on it. Written on top of the cross was the name: Richard Jamesbich.

_'I'm guessing that's the guy who runs this place. Hmmm...funny name for these times.'_

The trio all entered the hospital and saw a man at a desk. He was looking down and rubbing a cloth over something. As they drew nearer Claire saw that it was a syringe with a giant needle attached.

_'Ehhh... needles...'_ She shuddered slightly.

"Cold, luv?" Jack whispered in her ear. He held her closer. "Let me warm ye up."

She smiled as he rubbed her arm. It did make her a bit warmer because her face flushed crimson but she didn't shudder because she was cold.

"Thanks Jack but I'm not cold. I just don't like needles and that guy's got one in his hands." She shuddered again.

: flashback :

"No! Mommy! Where are they taking me? No, MOMMY! DON'T LEAVE ME! MOMMY!"

But she did leave, and Claire was left alone with a really tall person with cold hands. It was cold everywhere. She was in a hospital, or doctor's office of some kind. Everything was cold and metal. Everything had to be steril.

"Come on, sweetheart, it's OK. Mommy will be back before you know it," the tall man said.

"Kensington. Hurry up with that girl. She needs to be injected quickly," said a man with a rough voice.

"Be patient, Rick. She's just a little one." Kensington handed Claire over to a very ugly man. "Don't hurt her. She only 4 years old. Be gentle with her."

The ugly man smiled very menicingly and pulled out a very big and very sharp needle.

She was only 4 but she was old enough to know that sharp things hurt people. Her eyes got very large at the sight of the needle and she thought they might pop out of her head. But then she realized they could get much larger with out popping once the doctor started bringing the needle closer and closer to her little pudgy arm.

Claire was trying to move away but both doctors had their cold hands on her and were holding her down. She started screaming again.

"MOMMY! MOMMY! COME BACK! THEY'RE HURTING ME! OWWWWW!"

At this point she was screaming and crying because that very big and very sharp needle had just pierced her skin. That had hurt enough but then it started stinging. The doctor was pushing something into her body through a tube that was attached to the needle. It felt wet. She didn't know what it was but she didn't like it. She felt dizzy. The color was draining from her eye sight. The last thing she felt was a big thud as she hit the floor. And all was black.

: end flashback :

Claire opened her eyes and found herself on the floor of the hospital. She was shaking and she felt hands on her.

"Get off me! NO! DON'T HURT ME!"

"Claire! It's alright! Calm down, luv!" Jack was rubbing her back firmly, to try to stop her shaking, but gently, as if to tell her it really was OK.

It wasn't working. She was still shaking.

_'I don't know what this girl just went through but it obviously was something that really terrorized 'er. Poor thing.'_

He tried to calm her down from a different approach. He knelt down and hugged her. Pulled her close to his body and held her tight. He felt her losen a little and she held onto his shirt.

"Jack, I just had the most horrible memory." She really sounded pathetic now, but she couldn't help it.

He rubbed her back and started saying calming words.

"It's alright, luv. It's all over now. Ye'r alright."

Her shaking died down a bit but her eyes were wide.

_'What went through tha' girl's mind?'_

Will was freaked out.

_'Whoa! This girl is wayyyy more odd than I thought she was. She's not normal. She knew my name before I told her what it was, she was mouthing the exact words I was speaking as I was saying them, and now she breaks down out of nowhere. I think there is more to this girl than I can believe at the moment.'_

That was possibly Claire's worst memory ever. She used to have nightmares about it frequently when she was younger. But she hadn't had them for about nine years. She could never understand why she had this memory because her mom was still with her to this day. She didn't know if it even happened or if it was an extremely realistic dream. Either way, it terrified her. She was hardly ever afraid of anything, but this dream sent her over the edge.

_'What would cause me to dream about this now? Is there anything here that would trigger any memories? Anything? This is too weird. They say the human mind never really forgets but... this is just too weird. I havent thought about that day in... oh I don't know how long. I'm confused...'_

Jack was holding her and doing his best to comfort her. Will was standing in the corner looking lost in thought.

Claire felt another hand on her back. It was cold. She looked around and saw the man from the counter.

"Are you alright, miss?" He smiled.

_Needles...needles...piercing skin...ugly man...wicked smile...needles..._

"Yes... I think so..." She tried to stand up. She was still very shaky. Her head was pounding like mad.

_'MOMMY!'... cold hands...needles...tall men... 'Be careful with her, Jamesbitch. She's only four years old.'...ugly wicked mean smile..._

_'O my God...' _

Claire knew why she had the horrible memory of that terrible day. This was the man that stuck the very big and very sharp needle into her skin when she was four years old. This was the man that injected her with the cold stingy liquid thirteen years ago.

"O my God..." she said out loud this time.

The doctor looked at her, confused.

"What's wrong, dear? Are you sure you're alright?"

She looked hard at him. "I know you."

Now he looked even more confused. He looked at Jack and then at Will who just shrugged.

"I don't believe I know you, miss. I'm sorry but you must be mistaken. Come. Come inside and sit down."

He led her to a room in the back. She gasped as she walked in. It was cold, and all metal, extremely futuristic for this time period. Just like the room thirteen years ago.

She pulled away from the doctor and ran to Jack.

"Luv, what _is_ the matter? Ye sure ye'r feeling alright?"

"Jack! This room! It's just like the one in my memory! It was all metal just like this one!"

"Metal?" Will stared at her with very questioning eyes.

"Yes, metal! You don't see it? The room is covered in it! How can you not see it!"

"I think ye really need to sit down, luv. Maybe ye hit yer head or something when ye fell." Jack tried to coax her into the room.

"All I see is dirt and filth. Is this even sanitary, Doctor?" Will asked.

_'No one believes me. How can no one see what I'm seeing? Why is all this happening to me? How did Jamesbich get here after all this time... wait... how did I get here? This is too much!'_

Jamesbich was the only one not looking at Claire like she was crazy. He was smiling that same ugly wicked smile he used thirteen years ago.

* * *

the song was "Sh-boom" by the Chords. it's from the 50's and it's amazing and AHHH i love it! 


	9. Doctor

WEEEE! i'm finally back! oh and i know you all missed me. don't even try to deny it. well, for anyone who cares, the first two weeks i was at camp and it was absolutely amazing! i'm really considering bsu now for college. the last week i was in california. we flew in to san francisco but drove to yosemite. and i tell you, it was fun, but SHIT it was hot! it was 100+ degrees and i was hiking up mountains! it was gorgeous out there though... we drove back to san francisco and stayed there a couple nights before flying back. that is a really cool town. COMPLETELY overpopulated but still, intriguing.

ok i bet you are dying to get to the story right? ha! ok well, here it is :

* * *

_'Oh that man. That terrible, ugly, dispicable man! This is not fair! I hate these situations. I feel so hopeless because noone's on my side.'_ Claire whimpered slightly to herself. 

"Well, I don't think we were properly introduced." said the ugly dispicable man. "Hi." He held out his hand to Will. "I'm Rick Jamesbich."

She forgot about all she was worried about for the moment and started laughing histarically.

"Hahahaha! I'm Rick James, bitch!"

Jamesbich smiled slightly to himself as if embarrassed. Will looked at her and rolled his eyes. Jack started laughing along with her.

"There's just somethin' about ye, Claire. Ye really can light up the worst situations. Are ye sure you're not bipolar?" Jack had to hold her because she was doubled over laughing. It took a while but she finally stopped.

"Hello, I'm Will Turner and this is Jack... um..."

"Captain! Captain Jack _Sparrow_."

"Captain Jack Sparrow and that is Claire... erhm..."

"Johnson."

"It's nice to meet you." Jamesbich shook hands with Will. "Now what brings you to my office today?" He looked over at Claire, still smiling wickedly.

"Well, ye see it's really quite confusing. I -we- were trying to rescue this girl but bloody Norrington didn't like us so he was going to hang us so we obviously had to get away so we start running, savvy? Then the men start shooting at us and Claire dove into the water to try to get away that way but apparently it didn't work 'cause she got shot still. And that is what brings all of us here, aye?...'cept Will. We ran into 'im on the way and he agreed to help us." Jack looked over at Will and clapped his hands together like he was going to pray but then bowed a little and said "thanks mate."

"Alright. Gun shot. It'll take a little bit of surgery but I can get the bullet out and get her patched up before you can say... inchybinchyscininchkavitch."

Claire, Will, and Jack all started at Jamesbich with 'wtf' faces.

"What?" Jamesbich looked innocently at all of them. "It's a fun word to say!"

"Yes... but... is it a real word?" Jack asked looking more confused than ever.

"Well... savvy and aye and all the other things you said aren't real words either! So there! Mmmnyugh!" He stuck his tongue out at Jack.

"Yes they are... you smell funny!"

"Oh come on! Act your ages people! Let's just get Claire fixed up and get out of here." Will was very annoyed.

"Right! The surgery." Jamesbich gave Claire another of his evil smiles. "You two can wait out in the front loby. Claire, you come with me."

Claire was a little bit scared. One because she was just going into a back room with this crazy man, two because the crazy man was going to give her surgery, and three because she was getting surgery. She was less afraid of the man, however. He made her laugh and seemed slightly more down to earth.

"Bye Jack."

"It'll be alright, luv."

_'No! I don't want to go into that back room with you, you crazy sonofabitch! I want to leave with Jack and never come back!'_

"If you leave, that wound of yours will never get fixed up and will only get worse."

_'That was kreepie. It was like he read my mind.'_

Jamesbich laughed and led her into yet another metal room.

_'Ughhh... I'm sick of all this metal stuff. It's too cold in here. I don't like it. I'm still confused as to why only I can see it's metal. I don't know... maybe I did hit my head too hard.'_

"Only you can see this room is metal because only you remember me."

OK. She knew that this time it wasn't a coincidence. She hated to think it but...

_'You really can read my mind, can't you?'_

"Yes, Claire. I can." He laughed. "I'm sorry you think it's so cold in here. I'm not used to the Caribbean weather yet so I like to keep my office as cool as possible."

"How... how... did you do that?"

_'What read your mind? Oh... I don't know. I was born with this gift. I think it's rather interesting.'_

She heard his voice but his lips weren't moving.

"OK. How'd you do _that_?"

_'You see, Claire. If one can read a mind, one can also speak through their mind.'_

_'OOO! COOL! Is there anything else you can do?'_

_'Well, not right now. I can't tell you much. I don't want to give it away... yet. I will tell you how you got here though. Hmmm... I don't know where to start. I guess I will start thirteen years ago. You remember me as the evil doctor who stabbed you with the needle. Ha! I don't blame you for thinking that. Doctors can be pretty scary to little four year olds. It didn't help that I had to give you a shot either. You see, your mom had to leave you because she couldn't take care of you anymore. Your father left soon after your mom got pregnant and she managed as best she could. She was doing pretty well too. She finished school and got a job. She had enough money to take care of both herself and you. But then the building in which she worked went out of business and she couldn't find another job. The poor woman. She tried her best to keep you. She fought in court for you but eventually had to give you up. Since there was no close family, you were forced to live in a foster home until someone adopted you.'_

Claire was at a loss for words. Or thought. She was adopted. The family she had known her entire life... and they had never told her. _'I was an orphan? ... but who's my real mother? This- this is psychotic! He's lying... it's not true. It can't be true. Marissa is my mother.'_

_'Have you ever wondered why you've always called your Marissa by her name and instead of calling her 'mom'?'_

That was true. She didn't know why. She just always figured it was what she said as a child and it stuck. She tried making sense of what he was telling her. _'But if I was in a foster home, why did I remember her leaving me at your office?'_

_'Well, I was close friends with your mom. She and I knew each other from school and we had kept in touch ever since. She knew that I was into experimental drugs and she came to me for help. She didn't want you to remember her because she was ashamed of not being able to keep you. Fortunately, I had created a succesful drug that kills memory cells. That is why you were in my office when she left you. That is why you remember getting a shot. It was to make you not remember. Now the effects weren't immediate. It took a couple of years for the memory of your mother to be erased for two reasons. The drug wasn't made to be immediate. I had tried but all tests ended in failure. The other reason was because your mother was such a big influence on your life and couldn't just be forgotten over night. You slowly lost the memories of your mother. You were still little when Marissa and Thomas adopted you and that helped too. You were almost eight when you completely forgot so you had your whole life to gain new memories with your step-mother.'_

Claire didn't know what to say. Or really, what to think.

"What was her name." is all she could manage for the moment.

_'Serina.'_

_'I bet she was beautiful...'_

_'She was very beautiful, with long strawberry blonde hair that gently waved. Such soft expressions and always full of laughter and life. You resemble her.'_

Claire smiled. She had always wondered why she was the only fair member of her family. Both her father, mother, and brother had dark complections, hair and eyes. Claire however, had blonde hair with just a tint of red, fair skin, and blue-green eyes.

After a moment she forced herself off of that subject. "But how did I get here?"

_'Well, I kept in touch with you over the years. Psycically of course. I would read your mind and flash through your memories as if I were reviewing my own memories. That's how I found out that you were obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean.'_

_'Oh my God that is such a good movie! Have you seen it?'_

He laughed. _'Yes, a few times. It is pretty good. But anyway... I guess I have to tell you about another of my powers. Basically, I have the ability to send people into different relms. You know, different realities, times, worlds. You name it.'_

_'Sooo could you send someone to Mars?'_

_'Well, I did try to send a dog there once but he came back frozen like a popsicle.'_

_'Oh! That could have just been because you didn't have the right equipment and stuff-'_

_'We're getting off subject again.'_

_'Sorry.'_

_'I knew how much you loved the movie and especially the actors so I placed pieces of your memories together and created a sort of dream.'_

_'The dream I had before I woke up here!'_

_'Yes. That dream. It's easier for the person travelling through relms to have their mind fixed on something else. Otherwise they may become dizzy and puke. Or worse.'_

_'Thank you, thank you, thank you!'_

_'Haha! You're welcome! I wanted to meet you, too, Claire. That's the main reason I brought you. I wanted you to know the truth. Plus, I figured you needed an adventure. I've heard you whining...'_

It was true. Claire really didn't like where she lived. She used to, but the world was growing so fast! Everything beautiful was being replaced with flashy new copies of the same building two blocks down the road. For instance, the town had agreed to rip up the only real grassy area left in her town to put in a hotel water park. It would be fun but one would need to stay overnight at the hotel at rediculously high prices to be able to swim in the park. Why would she need to stay in a hotel when the park was being built five minutes from her house? Sometimes she wished she could just drive out to the middle of nowhere and actually breathe.

The doctor lifted her shirt and put his hand over her wound.

_'Tanka harwar.'_ Jamesbich was whispering in another language. Claire didn't recognize the dialect so she figured it was a magic language or a dead language. _'Poika tuulo' 'kshapsae.'_

"What ever language that was, it was really pretty."

_'Elvish. It's more powerful than any other language for completing spells.'_

_'It's beautiful.'_

Jamesbich continued to whisper in elvish and she felt her side tingling.

"This may sting a little."

_'Elea i'dolen.'_

_'Ahh! A little?'_

Something was tugging from the inside of her side. She winced and gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. A few seconds later a small piece of black lead popped out of the wound: the bullet.

"That's disturbing."

_'Tinechor.' _Her side continued to tingle and as Claire strained to watch it, the hole where the bullet entered closed as new skin grew. Jamesbich whiped the blood off. _'Ama poldora.'_

"Wow."

_'Now. I will be here to help whenever you need it. All you have to do is clear your mind and talk... or well... think to me. I will be listening and I'll check in on you every now and then.'_ He looked in her eyes. She realized that this man wasn't evil at all. He looked like a father who was sending his little girl off to school for the first time.

_'Will you be OK?'_

"I think so. I'll keep in touch. I promise."

"Make sure you do."

_'I'm sorry you had to hear me call you that nasty name earlier, doctor. I didn't know you. I only had the impression from when I was little and-'_

He held his hand up to make her stop talking. "It's alright. I understand. And you can call me Rick by the way."

"You know, you're pretty cool, Rick."

He smiled and she shuddered again.

"But you've got a damn creepy smile."

He walked with her to the main loby.

Jack and Will stood up as Claire entered and Jack came over to give her a hug.

"See, luv. I told ye it'd be alright."

_'Kiss me, you sexy pirate.'_

_'Now, now, Claire. You have to consider the other people in the room.'_

_'Get out of my head! You're not going to be doing this all the time are you?'_

_'Sorry. I couldn't help myself. And no. Unfortunately, I won't be able to torment you. After I lose sight of you, you have to contact me first to talk to me. Or I have to say a bunch of spells and that takes too much time so I will only do that if I feel something is really wrong.'_

_'Thank you.'_

"Good bye, Rick." Claire smiled at him and he smiled back.

They turned to go but Will was still standing there.

"Well, I'm not paying for you," he said.

Jack looked around mischeviously. "Thanks, mate," he said to Rick before he took off around the corner. Claire and Will looked to Rick.

"It's alright. This time it's no charge."

Claire smiled at him. "Thanks."

Will looked hesitantly at Claire.

"Come on..." He left the hospital with her.

_'Good bye, Claire.'_

---

"Will, why do you have to act like you have a stick stuck up your ass?"

"WHAT did you just say to me!"

"You just need to chill, you know? Relax a little bit."

Will stopped walking. "I don't think I should be taking any suggestions from you. You're walking around with a pirate!"

"Yeah, but have you ever looked past the pirate part. Jack, is such a cool guy! You hardly know him, or me. You should give people a chance."

Will stood there a minute, just looking at her. Part of it made sense but part of him didn't want to listen at all.

She ran to go catch up with Jack, and Will followed her.

Jack reached into his pocket to get his coin pouch he'd stolen to show it off but realized it wasn't there.

"Where'd it go?"

Claire smirked innocently.

"There wasn't even a charge, Jack," Will said.

"It's still Captain to you, mate," he said still searching his pockets for the coin pouch.

Claire took it out of her pocket and threw it at Jack. He looked at it, a little shocked then started running after Claire.

"Get back here you little theif!" he yelled.

Will laughed a little, then took off after them.

Claire was right. As much as he didn't want to admit it, they were fun... kind of... in an ill natured sort of way.

* * *

eh? too corny? just funny? just dumb? tell me what you think. help me out a bit, please... 


	10. I See Dead People

so school started and it definately sucks. i have the worst senioritis. and i have two more years of high school. bleh. i saw pirates again on friday, which makes only three times unfortunately... anyway, here's the story...

---the stupid line thing isn't working---

Claire, Jack, and Will all made their way back through Port Royal and back to Will's blacksmith shop. Jack hadn't stopped smiling since they had left Rick's.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a red jacket, however, and the smile quickly vanished.

_'Shit!'_

"Search upstairs! Look lively, men!" Gillette was calm. No matter how frantic Norrington could get, he always seemed to remain calm.

_'I mean, its not like we're actually going to lose him. It's him against the Royal Navy. We will find him.'_

Something caught his eye.

He immediately swung his head around and could have sworn he saw a dirty man jump just out of view behind the wall of the nearest building.

_'Is it Sparrow? Or is it just some stupid commoner? Only one way to find out.'_

He quietly unsheathed his sword and crept slowly against the wall of the building.

_'About ten steps away... seven... four... one...'_

He stopped. Quiet as could be, barely breathing, he positioned himself for a quick attack.

_'Ready or not, here I come.'_

"Heeya!" He swung his sword around and...

Ran it into the wall on the other side of the corner.

He quickly scanned the area.

_'No one. Just a stupid statue. Hmmm... must have imagined it, then.'_

"Right, then. I should carry on," he said to no one in particular.

He was right. There was no one _in sight_. The statue was a blacksmith positioned in a hollow spot in the wall. Hollow enough for a person to easily slip behind and be hidden.

Gillette, of course, had not thought of this for the moment, so he turned and walked away.

It wasn't a minute later that Jack Sparrow poked his head out from behind the statue.

_'Ha! Blind bloiter!'_ Jack laughed.

He stepped out from behind the lovely statue of the blacksmith, still holding Claire to his side.

Jack had started staring at Claire again and finally, being the selfconcious person she was, just had to say something.

"What? Why do you keep staring at me. Do I have something on my face?" she asked him.

"No, luv. Nothing like tha'. I'm just lookin' at yer eyes." He put his arm around her and led her inside Will's shop through the back entrance. They couldn't get in the front door. Will's sword still had it locked in place.

"Did I really faint? I can't believe I really fainted! How long was I out?" Claire asked once inside.

"Well, you didn't look too well at all. I told you that. Yer face was white. You weren't out for more than a few minutes, though. I thought you were alright while I was fighting Will but then you started bleeding like mad." He shuddered slightly. " 'ere, sit 'ere and warm up."

_'I just got too excited. Heh! My heart was racing like a sprinter, that tripped and fell.'_

He had laid down a blanket looking thing next to the pile of hot coals. It looked more like the sack of potatoes she hid beneath earlier than a blanket but Claire sat on it anyway.

He handed her another potato sack and helped her wrap it around herself. He gave her a hug and said, "Ye warm enough?"

"Yes, Jack, thank you."

"Ye sure there's nothin' else ye may need?"

She looked down at her pitiful damp and goose-bumped body. Her clothes were finally drying but she realized she was still in her PJ's from last night when she had fallen asleep in her own bed beside Coralynn.

_'OMG! CORALYNN! WHERE IS SHE! I was here when I woke up and I was still in my bed, but she wasn't. Where is she? –gasp- did she fall into the Caribbean while we were sleeping? DID SHE DROWN!'_

"Claire?"

"Oh, sorry. Um, I don't think so." She smiled at him, showing him she was OK.

He leaned in a little closer. "Are ye sure?"

He leaned in even closer to her. She didn't draw back. He leaned in some more.

He felt her lips press against his, but she pulled back.

_'Damn. I knew it was too soon.'_

"Sorry, luv. Couldn't 'elp meself—"

She cut him short and pressed her lips against his again. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

It wasn't simply a peck. It was a kiss.

While she and Jack were having their moment, Will was tending to his sword.

(welcome to Will's head)

_'I told them I would have to turn them in. And that is what I have to do. It's against the law of Port Royal to hide wanted persons. Those that hide them are no better off than the wanted persons. I will give them no more than a few moments and finish sharpening my sword. Then I will take them to Commodore Norrington myself. Perhaps I should have a generous reward for my _troubles

_'They were really no trouble at all, however. I simply made a deal with them and followed through with it. All of us did. I said I would take the girl to get cleaned up and now that she is, my end of the deal comes. I get to turn them in. It is their fault. Had they not been doing something wrong, none of this would have happened to them anyways. Crime, indeed, does not pay.'_

(you're out of Will's head now)

Jack was the first to pull out. He realized how disgusted of a look Will was giving them and decided to stop.

He looked at her. Her eyes were still closed and mouth still open, as if reliving the moment.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"Wha' wasn't it for, luv?" He smiled at her and she smiled back.

_'God, she's beautiful. We'll have to try that again some place more suitable. Under better conditions. We need to get to Tortuga.'_

–ahem– He nodded towards Will.

Claire looked at Will and winked. Will quickly glanced away and Claire pulled Jack in again, whispering, "I don't care."

_'Ahhhh...I would have never dreamed of this before.'_ Claire thought._ 'Well, actually I did dream about it but I never thought it would actually happen. Ahhh... it's like heaven...without all the white clouds and naked baby angels.'_

Claire felt that _'I'm high' _feeling again. She didn't want to move away from his arms, or lips, afraid that she would lose the very excited feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Embarrassing enough, she had never kissed anyone before.

_'No one will ever believe me when I come back to my own era. If I come back to my own era. I JUST SHARED MY FIRST KISS WITH JACK SPARROW!'_

True, the kiss was the main thing flashing through her mind at the moment, but she still had a lot to think about.

_'What if I never come back? How would I get back? Do I want to go back? Where's Cora? This is gonna suck if I have to sleep on these potato sacks. I want my bed! I kinda miss my fake family... but only a little. What if I do come back and people have noticed I've gone missing. Who's taking my place in my other world now? Mmm... too confusing!' _

Jack had kissed her no longer than about a minute when Will interrupted, rather rudely.

"All right, you two." He held his sword at Jack's eye level. "I hid you and got you cleaned up with out any trouble, so I expect you not to give me any trouble when I turn you in."

_'Awww... Will... and I thought you were gonna be the good guy...'_ Claire pouted.

"I s'pose ye'r right, lad. Ye'v been a great help to us and we are extremely greatful. There'll be no trouble from us."

Claire stared at Jack, utterly astonished. White flags from Jack Sparrow? He was the best pirate in the Caribbean if not the entire ocean. He made a killer escape from Norrington in the movie and now they both had for real. And he was just going to sit back and relax while Will brought them to their death beds?

_'What's in his head?'_

Jack saw her looking at him in disbelief and he flashed her a smile. There was more to the smile, however, than a bunch of gold and white teeth. She saw the playful curve in his lips and the thoughtfulness in his eyes.

_'Yeah, I didn't think so...'_

Will grabbed Claire by the arm with his free hand but since he had the sword in the other he couldn't grab Jack.

"No! No! Let go, Will! Don't be queer! Let me GO!" Claire started beating him with her free arm.

Jack spun around quickly and picked up a wooden hammer off the ground that he had thrown at Will during their earlier duel. At that time Will had already realized his mistake, let go of Claire, and was coming after Jack. Jack drew his sword and fought off Will while looking for an opportunity to hit Will on the head with the hammer.

"You said you wouldn't give me any trouble. You went back on your word. Now you're a cheater and a liar!"

"I said it before and I'll say it again: pirate!" He gave a mocking gold-toothed smile to Will. Then he looked at Claire and gave her an 'aren't I so bad' look that made her laugh.

"Go Jack! Go Jack!"

They paried some more and kept going and going and going... (like the energizer bunny!) ...and going and going and going...

-rattle rattle... BANG!-

_'Uh oh.'_

Norrington's men had finally found them and were trying to get through the door-the one that still had the sword that Will had so smoothly thrown into.

"Jack! It's Norrington! And his men! They're trying to break down the door!"

Norrington heard lots of noises. Swords clanged and some other things sounded like they were being thrown every where.

_"Jack! It's Norrington! And his men! They're trying to break down the door!"_

It was that annoying little brat from the docks. He was going to teach that one a lesson or two.

_'Norrington! Tha' man just has to ruin all me plans doesn't he?'_

Jack began to run towards the back door but Will blocked him.

"Move away."

"No."

_'Not again. Damn, this lad is stubborn.'_

"Please move?"

"No! I will not just stand aside and watch you escape."

"But Will, you helped us before, and I was beginning to like ye," Claire said with pleading eyes.

_'There she goes with the pirate lingo again.'_

He cocked his pistol and put it in Will's face.

"Once again, this shot is not meant for you."

-CRASH!-

It was the sound of a bottle breaking.

_'Deja vou...'_

The empty rum bottle came crashing down on Mr. Brown's head for the second time that day. Apparently he had woken up from his last little spell and was coming after Claire. He had snuck up behind her and was attempting to hit her on his head with a second bottle, empty mind you. But somehow she sensed him and so stelthfully stole the bottle from his hands and crashed it down upon his head.

_'Faster than he could say inchybinchyscininchkavitch.' _

_'Yes?'_

_'Oh! Wow! Rick? Is that you?'_

_'Why of course! Who else would it be?'_

_'Oh I don't know maybe- that's besides the point! How'd you get in contact with me?'_

_'Oh! Did I forget to mention that if you say, think, hear, or anything to do with your six scenses, the word inchybinchyscininchkavitch there is immediate contact between us. It's much easier than having to clear your mind, really.'_

_'There are two problems with what you just said. Yes, you did fail to mention that. But more importantly, did you just say my **six** scenses?'_

_'Oh my, there is a lot I forgot to mention isn't there. Well, Claire, there was another part to that little healing shinanigan I did to you back in my office. Erhm, you have sort of pscycic powers now.'_

_'Oh my God! I'm not going to start seeing dead people am I?'_

_'Heavens, no! What ever gave you that idea?'_

_'Too many questions in too little time! Quick! We need a plan!'_

_'Well, since you have your sixth scense you could always just tap into Norrington's pea sized head of his and- GOODNESS! I've said far too much! I'm not supposed to be helping you. Stupid, STUPID, Rick!'_

_'Thank you, Rick! Thank you! How do I tune you out?'_

_'Just avert your mind to something else. Stupid, stupid, stupid me...'_

_'OK bye!'_

Surprisingly, her whole conversation had been extremely fast because Mr. Brown had not yet hit the floor from falling. As soon as she focused on his body frozen in mid air, he fell to the ground.

Will looked up surprised and Jack turned around too.

"Thanks, luv."

"No problem."

Jack turned around and began bickering with Will again and Claire turned her attention to the door that Norrington's men were curently trying to break into. She stared intently at it, almost as if she was trying to pierce right through it and look Norrington straight in the eye.

_'Oh, Nooorrie!'_

--- ---

review, por favor. :D


	11. Mind Games

i'm thinking that maybe i could make a soundtrack to this story... that sounds really funny but i love music and there are songs that tie into this story and i could do it... we'll see.

---

Claire stared intently at the door. She felt very foolish doing it but, _'whatever.'_ She was very focused. She could hear Jack trying to persuade Will to move out of the way, but their voices were very low, almost too low, and they were talking very slowly. Everything was slowing down. Everything had become unusually quiet and Claire pictured Norrington in her mind. She closed her eyes. She saw him. He was outside the door with his men and they were pounding on the door in slow motion, kicking it and hitting it with the butts of their guns. Then everything got slower and slower until it was as if time had stopped. Norrington, however, was unaffected by this stop of time and was looking around slowly.

_'James.' _It didn't sound like her. It was her voice but it was lathered in some invisible magic she was working.

Norrington jumped and turned around looking for who was calling him.

_'James, be still and be calm.'_

He immediately stopped moving and she saw his muscles relax and unfold from their tense positions. As if he was in her trance.

_'Now listen. Only listen to the sound of my voice, telling you what you need to do.'_

He closed his eyes, trying harder to hear the sweet voice inside his head.

_'Go. Turn back. Order your men to retreat. You will need all of your strength later on in the evening. Trust me. Heed my warning and do as I say. Now go!'_

Claire opened her eyes, breaking immediate contact with Norrington and then switched thoughts to break all contact. She heard Jack and Will yelling at each other again. She heard only three more sounds of pounding on the door before she heard Norrington's voice.

_'What the bloody hell just happened to me?'_ Norrington thought. Not two seconds ago he was almost frozen in time, and now everything was as it was two seconds before that. He had heard a beautiful voice speaking to him. He drank in every word. The voice had spoken a warning, telling him that he should save his strength, for something else was coming later on. He believed the voice, for he scensed it was the truth, and called out to his men.

"Fall back, men! Back to the fort!"

"But sir," Gillette was utterly confused, "what about Sparrow and that little brat that was with him?"

"We shall find them later, but for now, rest. I have... a feeling... that we shall be needing our strength for something yet to come."

Gillette was still confused, it was as clear as his twitching eye brows and pursing lips everytime he spoke. But, he obeyed with the rest of the men and fell back to the fort.

_'What will we be needing our strength for later on, if the voice was speaking the truth?'_

_---_

"I said move, boy! There's a bloody gun in ye face and ye'r still not moving! Now move or I pull this trigger!"

"For the millionth time, I will not just stand aside and watch you escape! I hold my grudge at 'no'!"

_'This bloody lad! He must know that I don't really want to shoot him. I'm saving this shot for bloody Barbossa. He must know somehow. But... wait... it's quiet. All too quiet in here.'_

He looked around as well as Will. Claire was standing in the middle of the room with a triumphant look on her face.

"Why are ye looking so happy, luv?"

"Norrington's men are gone. They pulled back! I heard Norrington muttering something about 'using his strength for something yet to come.'" She mocked him with utmost pleasure.

Jack turned back to Will.

"Well, boy. It seems to me that they don't want us. So I believe that your work is done here. Thank ye, though. It's been fun." He flashed him a big gold toothed grin and Claire fell over laughing.

Jack started laughing shortly after her and even Will smiled a bit. Jack still laughing came over to where Claire was rolling on the floor. He stratled her and sat on her stomach, not with all his weight of course, and started tickling her. She started shrieking and laughed until tears were coming down her cheeks. She was probably the most ticklish person anyone would ever meet.

"Stop!" –laughing– "No really stop!" –more laughing–

He wouldn't get off her so she tried to force him off. She swung her leg up behind him and kicked him in the back of the head. He fell over and she escaped from under him.

That sent Will off laughing and he came running after her and held her so that Jack could tickle her more.

"No! Stop! My stomach hurts I'm laughing so hard!" –laughing and giggling and anyotherwordthatmeanstolaugh-ing– "I have to PEEEEEEE!"

"Welcome to the world of pirates, Claire. Do ye think that's enough torture for one day, Will?"

He nodded, unable to speak because he was still laughing.

"Oh! Where's ye sense of fun, lad?" He gave Will a defeated look then turned to Claire. "I guess the lad's right, though. I'm sorry for torturing ye for so long. How about I make it up to ye?"

As if seeing it ahead of time, Will turned away and went to fiddle with some swords.

Jack leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

_'This is definitely making up for it.'_

Jack pulled out a tiny bit. Just enough so that he could say something. "Glad ye'r enjoying it, luv." He smiled and the two kissed again.

She wondered for a moment if she had meant to say that telepathically to Jack or not, but she was too wrapped up in emotion to care.

_'I can't turn them in now.'_ Will thought._ 'They're too much fun. Jack doesn't seem all that bad at all. And the girl... well she's just out of this world. There isn't one word to describe her. You'd have to use at least two or three. She's very different, that's a given, but there's something about her, I'm not sure what it is, that makes her different. It's as if she doesn't belong here. I don't know... she's so complicated. She's beautiful and full of smiles, but she's also very emotional and unsure of many things. I think that's what makes her so unique. I'd like to get to know her better. If she'll let me have a few minutes with her instead of with Jack!'_

While he had been thinking to himself the two had become much closer and it looked as if things were heating up very quickly between them. Jack's hand was slipping lower and lower along her back.

_'The last thing I want to do right now, or ever, is to watch these two go at it.'_

"Claire! Jack! Get a room! ... Perferably not mine!"

"That can be arranged," Jack said while reluctantly pulling away from Claire. He flashed her his award winning smile and she felt like she could melt.

"Yes, well, it's getting late and I think you both should go. I have work to do and since I missed most of it today, I'm going to be working late into the night."

He fiddled with stuff on a near by desk. He was writing something down on a piece of paper. A minute later he handed the paper to Claire.

"Here. It's directions to my house. You can stay there for tonight since I probably won't be coming home."

"Thanks, Will! I really owe ye one!"

She smiled a big smile at Will and he smiled back.

"Just do me a favor... and _behave_ yourselves." He looked acusingly at Jack. "It is still my house, you know."

"Don't worry, mate. Ye house will be as you left it when ye come back to it."

Will rolled his eyes as Claire and Jack walked out the door.

"Bye, Will!" she yelled just before they left. "Thanks!"

"Now..." Jack said as he turned the paper Will gave to them. It was a makeshift map of Port Royal and little arrows were drawn on it telling them where to go. "We're here... and we 'ave to get... here... so we'll follow... this arrow first which is in..." his finger twisted around in the air, pointing every which way "this way direction."

Claire soaked in all the scenery of Port Royal as they walked. It was a lovely evening. The sky was a pinkish-purple color and the sun looked beautiful as it sank into the brilliantly blue ocean.

_'It's so beautiful.'_ She made sure to think this to herself so that Jack didn't hear it this time.

They were rounding a corner when suddenly Claire smacked into someone.

"Ow!" she said rubbing her forehead. She was laying on the ground next to some other person with an extremely large wig.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry! I wasn't looking... where... I was... going..."

The man slowed down his words as he stood up and looked from Claire to Jack.

"Oh my... oh my oh my! GUARDS!"

Jack pulled Claire to her feet and they began running as fast as they could. The man with the big wig tried to follow them but couldn't, seeing that he was an older man.

"What the bloody hell is Govenor Swann doing roaming the streets of Port Royal this late in the evening?" Claire yelled through gritted teeth as she ran.

It was the pirate. The one who had threatened Elizabeth down at the docks. And the young woman who was with him. He had thought for sure that Norrington's men had captured them.

_'Obviously not. I wonder how they slipped past him. No one escapes from the Royal Navy!'_

"Oh my... oh my oh my! GUARDS!"

The two took off running.

"No! Stop where you are!"

But they did not stop. They continued running down the street and around the corner. He tried to catch up with them, but, being the not-so-young man that he was, could not. He figured that the navy men would catch them so he continued on his way to the fort, to visit Commodore Norrington.

_'I will mention their spotting once I see him.'_

"Commodore!" he shouted somewhat mockingly. "The pirate and his lady friend have been spotted in the streets. Shouldn't you go after them? Or have your men go after them?"

"No. They have nowhere to go. If they did, they wouldn't have been here and been caught in the first place. So," he paused to take a bored sigh, "I will continue my efforts tomorrow. Something tells me that I will be needing my strength later on tonight."

The governor felt as if Norrington knew something about 'needing his strength' that he wasn't telling him. Plus he was very arrogant and just stupid. But he shrugged it off.

"Well then, has my daughter given you an answer yet?"

_'Whoa! Tha' was too close!'_ Jack thought.

He and Claire had run as fast as they could in the direction of what they thought was Will's house. Because of the sudden excitement they had just guessed. Since there weren't any guards out to run after them, they figured it was alright so they slowed down and looked at the map again.

"Let's see here... hm... we ran into the governor here and then we ran this way. So Will's house should be..." he took his eyes off the map and looked around. He found the house he was looking for and pointed at it. "There. Let's go, luv."

He was excited. He knew he shouldn't be because he was supposed to be behaving himself but he couldn't escape his own thoughts.

_'I'm going into an empty house, at night, with a beautiful woman... what am I supposed to do? ... HER! silent chuckle ... silent chuckle. I mean what does Turner expect? I'm a bloody pirate! I can't NOT think about it...'_

He tried to switch thoughts by thinking about how far they'd come already.

_'HA! She really showed Norrinton though, aye? She's a brilliant girl. Yet not a girl. She can't be older than 18, but she can seem so old. Then at times she giggles like a 6 year old. She's so intriguing. And beautiful. Whoa... I just did an entire monologue over my feelings for her. And I met her this morning.'_

He rubbed his head absent-mindedly.

_'Wait a tick. I can rub me head. Without havin' to move me hat away.'_

"ME HAT! WHERE'S ME HAT!"

-----

uh oh...


	12. Bombs Away!

sorry for such a long wait! i'm glad you stuck with me, those of you who are reading this. ummm basically nothing new. school started. i might have said that already. swimming started. i've been skipping practice haha. HOMECOMING is this weekend and i'm psyched! this is my first one even though it should be my third haha. i have a "significant other" to go with so... yeah. i'm feeling kind of special these days...

anyway, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Jack was running every which way looking for his oh-so-famous, tri-corner, brown, weather worn, sexy leather hat.

"I can't believe I lost it! How _could_ I have lost it? I mean, it was right here on me head all this time! It couldn't have jest walked away!"

Claire was walking around helping Jack look. She knew how much it meant to him and she was doing her best to comfort him.

"Jack, it's OK. We'll find it! I promise! Just calm down and get your head back on straight or we'll never find it."

It helped a little. He stopped panicing at least. "Ye'r right, Claire. I jest dropped it around here somewhere. Not such a big deal. It'll turn up somewhere 'round here..."

He kept talking to himself and walking all over the place looking for it but it was nowhere to be seen and Claire was getting really tired. Keep in mind that she had stayed up all night with her best friend _before_ she arrived in the Caribbean.

"Jack," she said in a pleading sort of way, "can we go to bed and look for your hat in the morning?"

He kept walking around muttering to himself.

"Jack, please!"

He looked up at her as if noticing for the first time that she was still there. She walked over to him and gave him a big hug. He really looked like he needed it.

"Jack, I know you're really upset about your hat. I feel the same way. I love your hat too! It is absolutely dead sexy amazing! But we've been looking forever and I'm about to fall asleep right here because I'm so tired. Can we keep looking in the morning and sleep now?"

He looked around some more as she held him.

She grabbed his ears and made him look at her.

"Jack, listen."

His head was faced toward her but his eyes darted all over the ground behind her.

She kissed him softly on the lips.

He finally looked at her.

"You probably just dropped it at Will's shop. Or at Rick's. I'm sure it's safe. We'll check it out tomorrow OK?"

He hung his head, but nodded. She lead him back to Will's house.

They walked in the door and looked around. It looked cozy enough. It was very small but it was clean and welcoming. Claire walked towards a door she suspected to be the bedroom. The first thing she noticed when she walked in was the single queen bed in the middle of the room. But Claire was too tired to care. She almost kicked off her shoes and socks when she remembered she wasn't wearing any. She had gone to bed in these clothes the night before, except many years in the future. She flopped down on the bed, and looked at Jack who had flopped down beside her.

She closed her eyes and tried to hear his thoughts...

But nothing happened.

_'Damn! I gotta ask Rick about tha'.'_

Claire looked at Jack again. He was looking at her with his arm propped up on the pillow, asking her with his eyes.

_'Damnit... why do I have to be so tired to do anything?'_

She snuggled up next to him and laid her head on his pillow. He slid his arm around her and she was drifting off to sleep in seconds.

"There you go, miss." the maid, Estrella, said as she put the metal-warmer-with-hot-coals-in-it-thing under Elizabeth's covers. She had been performing the same routine since Elizabeth was a little girl. With each year the girl grew, she was harder to take care of, for as the girl grew, so did her ego and attitude. "It was a difficult day for you I'm sure."

"Well I suspected the Commodore would propose but I must admit, I wasn't entirely prepared for it." It was the truth.

"Well, I meant you being threatened by that pirate. It must have been terrifying!"

"Oh... yes... it was terrifying..." It was not the truth.

"But, the Commodore proposed! Fancy that. Now that's a smart match, Miss, if it's not too bold to say." Estrella recovered quickly from her bold outburst. After near 16 years of putting this poor child to bed and cleaning up after her and serving her, they still could not talk as friends. She simply was the maid, as always. And as always, she had to be warry of comments such as these.

"No, it is a smart match." Elizabeth saw the maid give a sigh of relief. "He's a fine man: what any woman should dream of marrying."

Estrella paused before speaking again, as if considering her luck. "Well that Will Turner," she continued not seeing the lizard's jealous glare, " he's a fine man too."

Her look of jealousy became much more intense at the maid's words.

"That is too bold."

_'Bitch! I was just saying he was gorgeous, JEEZ! Half of Port Royal thinks so, too! Can't we just sit and talk about handsom men, like we've actually known each other for as long as we have? Lordy, woman! How many men do you need? Commodore Norrington proposed and you're saying it's a good match and everything but then you get all defensive over Will too! Whore!'_

That's what went through Estrella's mind.

"Begging your pardon, miss. 'T was not my place," was went through her mouth.

She pulled the covers up hastily, obviously pissed that the lizard had snapped at her. As the maid walked out of the room, Elizabeth grasped her medalion absentmindedly and thought of Will.

_'How can I marry Norrington? I love Will...'_

She had let her thoughts linger on Will for no longer than a minute when she felt an odd sensation in her body. Though the Caribbean night was as warm as ever, she felt oddly cold, as if she had just swallowed a thousand ice cubes. She shivered. The wind had picked up too. She looked at the lamp on her bedside table. It gave an odd flicker and then went out, leaving her in darkness.

"Has my daughter given you an answer yet? Govenor Swann and Norrington were walking along the lookout layer of Fort Charles.

"No...," Norrington answered still lost in thought, "no, she hasn't."

"Well she has had a very trying day ... ghastly weather don't you think?..." He stopped walking and strained his ears. "What's that?"

The next second Norrington jumped on top of Govenor Swann.

"Cannon fire!" he yelled as the cannon smashed into the wall of the Fort. "Return fire!"

It hadn't been five minutes from laying down when she heard it. Claire had forgotten. She had actually forgotten a piece from her favorite movie under the sun! It was shameful... Jack, however, brought her back to her senses.

"I know those guns!" he said sitting straight up and pulling all the covers off, leaving Claire's toes very cold.

Jack jumped out of bed and ran to the front door. She followed him just so she could steel the lines from the pirate prisoner in the movie.

They both reached the door, opened it, and peered out into the night. It was very dark, oddly cool, and an unnatural fog was sweeping in. Jack spotted the source of the cannon fire.

"It's the _Pearl_."

"_The Black Pearl_? I've 'eard stories. She's been preyin' on ships an' settlements for near ten years. Never leaves any survivors..." She coppied the old pirate's voice too.

Jack cast her his I'm-too-sexy-for-my-hat grin.

"No survivors? Then where do the stories come from I wonder?"

She smiled and came back inside. She rummaged through Will's closet and drawers to put on something other than her PJ's while Jack put on his effects... all but his hat.

Claire picked out a tunic slightly like the one Will wore, except it was smaller (he was probably going to give it away anyway) and better suited her. She left her tanktop on underneath it since the shirt was slightly see-through and very loose. She grabbed some of his pants, black and baggy, and tightened them with a belt. There was no way she would fit into Will's shoes, since she wore around size five, and there'd be no point to wear socks without shoes, so she stayed barefoot. It was better that way anyway. She despised shoes.

She looked a bit like a whale in Will's clothes, but she reminded herself of a pirate so she loved it.

"We need to get to Turner's shop. We'll need a couple of extra swords."

_'I'm gonna get t' fight the pirates? The pirates of the living dead! YES!'_

Claire couldn't hide the smile that was quickly spreading across her face.

_'I get t' fight th' pirates! Hey! I get t' fight th' pirates! Hey!'_

She kept singing the stupid song in her head all the way to the blacksmith shop... or she would have, if they would have made it there.

What seemed like out of nowhere came a short little man with a long beard, the tips of its dreadlocks smoking.

He grinned a nasty little grin and looked from Claire to Jack.

"Heh heh. Hello."

He looked down at their feet.

_'Hold on...'_

She remembered this all too well. Only... it hadn't happened to her but to Will.

Claire followed the pirate's glance, dreading what she was about to see, but sure enough, there was the bomb, lit and ready to blow.

Jack was still looking at the short man, rubbing his chin as if he recognized him. He didn't know about the bomb.

She grabbed Jack's arm and started running. It took all her effort to turn his stubborn self around but he soon realized the reason she was running and followed.

_'3...2...'_

-FLOP-

Claire tripped over someone on the ground and fell on her face. Jack fell with her; she was still holding his arm. She turned around just in time to see the bomb running out of string to burn.

"INCHYBINCHYSCININCHKAVITCH!"


	13. Explainations

**_this chapter is dedicated to the late Rick James who sadly passed on August 6th, 2004. a moment of silence please...

* * *

_**

"You don't have to yell, I'm right here." said Rick's voice loud and clear. It was smooth, not echoey and distant-like.

Claire turned her head every which way, looking for him.

_'If his voice isn't inside my head then he must be right here, but everything is slowed down again, so we must be having that psycic connection thing...'_

"Down here, Claire. And you can talk regularly and still have a psychic connection."

She looked down. The 'someone' her and Jack tripped over was Rick.

"Rick! Thank God! We've gotta move! Hurry! That bomb's gonna blow!"

"Calm down! We're fine for now. Notice how everything's moving so slow?"

"Oh... right."

There was silence and then:

"Erhm... luv?"

She spun around so fast she thought her head would snap off her neck.

"Jack? But how are you-?" She turned to Rick, who was laughing at the surprise on her face. "How can he hear us? Why is he not freeze-framed like everyone else."

"You were grabbing his arm when you tried to contact me-"

"-and so now he's in the connection too?"

Jack looked from Rick to Claire, eying her very suspiciously, then back to Rick.

"Hey! You're Rick Jamesbich!"

"That's right. I'm Rick Jamesbich."

Claire started laughing. "Haha! I'm Rick James, bitch!"

Jack's confused look became more pronounced after Claire said that.

"Erhm..."

"Jack... I think there's a few things I need to clue you in on."

"Later," Rick said, pushing her off of him and getting off the ground, "let's get out of here first."

"Now," he said after Claire and Jack had both gotten up from the ground, "where were you heading before you came across the short smoking guy?"

"Will's. Member him? He came with us to the hospital?"

"I know quite well who Will is. I've seen this movie too, you know."

"Movie?! Claire? WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?"

"When we get to Will's I'll explain everything so I won't have to say things twice."

Jack was quite quiet on the way to the blacksmith's shop. Claire on the other hand...

"OK. Brace yourself 'cause I've got a thousand questions."

"I figured you would. What's on your mind?"

''OK. Where's Cora? Do people know I'm missing? Who's taking my place or am I just gone—?"

"Cora's fine. She's still sleeping. In this world, time moves much faster than in your world. For example one day here is one hour there. Have you ever noticed how someone will embark on an adventure in a movie and it only takes them an hour to finish, when in our world it would take several days or even weeks?"

"Oh... yeah. I hate that. It always bothered me."

"So, no. No one knows you're missing. And you're just gone. It'd be dangerous to have a clone Claire running all over!"

"Whoa! Wha-? Missin' from where? And what d'ye mean _'in this world'_? How many worlds are there?!" Jack pouted.

"I told you. We'll explain when we get to Will's! Jest be a little more patient—"

"NO! I wanna know now! At least the basics. Jest tell me where ye'r missing from to start."

"OK. Try not to think I'm crazy but... this isn't reality, Jack."

"Wha' ye mean it's not-"

"Just listen! The world as _you_ know it is not real. It's a story. Fiction. That's why Rick mentioned the movie. A movie is a story put on film, with actors and actresses and props and special effects and digital features and—"

"That's enough Claire. Those things haven't been invented yet," Rick said.

"Oh, right."

"And you're not completely correct in your explaination. This place is a reality. It's just a story. In the 'real world' as we know it, our lives are just a tiny portion of some story that someone else is writing somewhere out there in this crazy giant spiderweb-of-interlocked-stories universe. Anyway, that's how we're able to improvise and things aren't exactly with the movie as we know it. It's how you are able to be here."

"Oh..." she paused, calmly reflecting. Then she snapped out of it and turned her attention back to Jack. "But anyway, I've seen what your world is based on. That's why I keep saying what you're gonna say and why I know what's gonna happen all the time and that's how I knew Will's name and everything. I don't live here. Not jest in the Carribean but not in this world at all. You are oblivious to every place on Earth except the Caribbean and maybe London—"

"Tha's not true! I been lots of places!"

"Yes, well have ye heard of America? Or the United States?"

Jack cocked an eyebrow and shook his head.

"Yeah, didn't think so. Well, that's where I'm from. On the east coast of the United States. North Carolina to be exact."

"Well, if ye'r from a different world—"

"—how'd I get here? That is a question I can't answer either. I jest remember having a dream about you and Will, and I woke up in a sinking bed. And that leads me to another thing. Only in this world, are you Captain Jack Sparrow. In my world, you play Jack in a movie, while your real name is Johnny Depp. And Will's is Orlando Bloom. And Elizabeth's is Keira Knightly. And Barbossa's is Geoffrey Rush. And Norrington—"

"Johnny Depp... hmm... rings a bell. How do I know him again?"

"I told you! He's you! You're an actor!"

"Claire, I think you'd better let me handle this," Rick said. "See, Jack, in your subconcious mind you have been many different places at many different times and under many different circumstances. All of these different worlds are linked by tiny little trains of thought. For instance, you are able to recal things from the real world as well as other movies."

"But... that's crazy! This is me life! I don't 'ave another one."

"Oh, Jack. I'm afraid you're mistaken."

"Yeah? Prove me wrong."

Rick sighed to himself. He whispered something in Claire's ear and she giggled. Then she put on her serious 'acting' face and said:

"What's it like, Neverland?"

Jack stared at her for a moment. Then his lip quivered and his mouth twisted into a playful smile.

He leaned over to Claire and whispered, "One day I'll take you there." His voice had changed: Mr. James Barrie's voice.

Claire started laughing and aplauded. He sounded a lot like her, saying things from movies. She wished so badly for Jack's words to be true. She loved the tails of Peter Pan and Neverland.

Then Jack/James turned back to just Jack again. His mouth opened but no words came out.

"Did I make my point?"

Jack nodded, mouth still gaping. She walked over to him, closed his mouth and gave him a hug.

"Jack, I know it's crazy. I can hardly believe it myself. But you have to believe it."

He just continued to stare at her, his mouth open again.

She seized the moment and kissed him. He just stood there for a second but then kissed her back.

"Well!" Rick interupted. "Let's carry on to young Turner's then shall we? Oh! I almost forgot. We're well enough away now I imagine."

Then, with a wave of his hand, everything unfroze itself and all the commotion started in again.

Somewhere farther back the smoking man stood looking very confused at the spot where three people had just been standing. One of them had looked slightly like Ex-Captain Jack. However, the bomb exploded and he moved on to looting and blowing things up.

Claire started to walk again but Jack stopped her.

"I hate when people kill the moment..."

He kissed her sweetly before chasing after Rick again.

**_Aditional disclaimer: I don't own anything from peter pan or finding neverland either unfortunately..._**

* * *

yeah!!! the line thingies work again! haha. and also, i'm not one to fish around for comments but i know there's a lot of you out there who have work to catch up on. many of you are on the story alert list and it keeps growing. i appreciate this MORE THAN YOU KNOW. but the lack of comments on my last chapter depressed me. i don't know if it was because of lucky number 13 and if all of you are really supersticious or if you just are too busy (in which case i am very sorry. i know how you feel) but i have proof which would convince you otherwise about the number 13. you may feel free to email me about that, however, for the time being please leave a comment. even if you fucking HATED it, leave a comment. especially if you liked it because it means the world and the moon to me (and also pluto which is no longer a planet... damn scientists...) and is the only cause for my long existence on you if you read through my whole rant to this point and now if you would please comment. 


	14. Nice To Meet You

wooo! it's been a while! so, how is everyone? did you all miss me? haha i'm sure you did... _sarcasm? i really have NEVER heard of it _enjoy!

* * *

Everywhere was commotion and loud noises. Pirates pirates everywhere. But what could possibly be better?!

Rick was running up ahead of Claire and Jack and narrowly avoiding swords and pirates.

Claire was looking everywhere but where she was going.

_'This is so cool. I am actually witnessing the fight scene! I can't believe it! Cora is NEVER going to believe this.'_

Jack pulled on ahead of her. Not because he was a guy and could run faster than her because girls are better than guys anyway, but because she was distracted and wanted to stay and watch.

-BAM!!!!-

She ran flat out into a pirate.

"OOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Gosh! Look where ye'r goin'!"

But the pirate was out cold and couldn't hear her anyways.

Claire got up and rubbed her forehead. It hurt a lot.

"Bloody pirates..."

She looked up to see where Jack and Rick were, but they were long gone.

"DAMNit!"

She knew that Jack and Rick wouldn't notice that she was gone until after they reached Will's. By then she would have been captured or stabbed or shot or...

"OOOO.K. Trying not to think of that. I'll just go to Elizabitch's house because if I stick with her than I can be sure to get back to Jack eventually. I'll just contact Rick and tell him what I'm doing." She stood there just talking to herself in the middle of all the confusion wearing clothes that didn't fit her. You can just imagine how strange this might look. "But he probably knows already. He's the one that brought me here because I'm so obsessed. He would be able to figure out that I got captured by pirates on purpose."

-GRUNT-

She looked to her right. A big ugly nasty pirate was standing over her with a knife.

"OOOH! Hello! I'm Claire! Nice to meet you. I've always wanted to meet a pirate!"

The pirate just looked confused and lowered the knife... slightly.

She was about to grab his hand and shake it when she got rucked from the side and went flying over.

-UGH!-

"What IS it with people running into me today! My GOD!"

She looked at the person who was now laying on her legs.

The person lifted his head. A gorgeous pair of eyes stared back at her. The cutest deep brown eyes, besides Jack's. They were like big round sad irresistable puppy dog eyes. When he looked at her with those eyes, she could just melt in them. She loved eyes because she could just see into a person's soul with them. Medium length, shaggy dirty blonde hair hung in his face. It looked messy and flipped out a little in the front. He looked about the same age as her. If she was not so preoccupied with plundering pirates and her 'involvement' with Captain Jack Sparrow, she would have been interested in him.

The boy stood up. He was fairly tall, taller than her anyway, and really thin. His skin was lightly bronzed and smooth. No gross acne to hide his georgeous face.

"Nice hit," Claire said, rubbing her bruising side. "You should play rugby, man."

"Sorry for that but I couldn't let you be attacked by that pirate." His voice was fairly deep.

"Uh, well thanks but I think I can handle my own afairs..." Claire put on a guilty face. "I just wanted to meet one in person, ye know?"

"Erhm, actually I don't know. Why would you ever want to meet a pirate? They're horrible vicious things that kill everything in sight."

Claire's mouth dropped open. "How can you say that?! Have you ever met one? You can't just judge a book by its cover ye know—"

The boy started pulling her into an alley.

"Hey! What are you doing. Get off me. RAPE!!!"

"You're worried about me raping you and yet, you were unconcerned about a pirate? Are you mad? And anyway who would really care with all this going on, hm? I'm just trying to get us out of this mess."

They went in the alley. It was very long and very dark. At least none of the pirates could find them there.

"Tell me: why did we come here again?"

"To apologize for tackling you and to explain myself."

"Well thank you. Now, may I know the name of my knight in shining armour?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm Ryan. And," sarcastically, "what am I to call thee, fair maiden?"

"Pleasure, Ryan. I'm Claire."

"You're, erhm, not from around here are you?"

"No, but how'd you know that?"

He looked her up and down. Her clothes were like nothing he had ever seen before on a lady. She wore pants, almost like a man, that were too big for her. Pirate maybe? She wasn't vile enough to be considered a pirate, but not a proper lady for that matter either.

"Just a hunch. Where are you from?"

"North Carolina," she said almost bouncy-like. She was excited by all that was going on around her but nervous because she really needed to get to Elizabitch's.

"What?"

"Here, uh, Ryan. I have to go. It's been real nice talking to you."

She turned to leave but then realized how odd this situation was and how bad she would feel if she just left him there. He had never seen this movie and really didn't think that pirates were the shit_. 'Aww... damnit.'_

"Ye know what? OK. Ye know where the blacksmith shop is, don't ye?"

He nodded.

"OK. This is going to sound weird but go there and when you see Will, tell them Claire sent you and that you're going to come with us, savvy?"

"But—"

"EH! No questions. Just go!"

He turned and left. _'Good boy.'_

So did Claire. She really needed to get to Elizabitch's house now before it was too late.

---

Jack and Rick ran all the way to the blacksmith shop.

They came in the door and—

-SMACK!-

Jack ran straight into Will who was leaving with his sword and ax to go help in the commotion.

"Ouch!" they both yelled.

"JINX!"

Jack and Will both look at Rick.

"What? I used to say it all the time when I was a kid. I haven't been able to since then and I thought—"

"Rick, just stop talking. What are you two doing here?" Will was caught completely off guard.

"Two?" Rick sounded really confused.

Jack stopped laughing and looked around. "Where's Claire!?!"

"It's alright Jack. She'll be OK. She really does know what to do. I promise."

"What's going on?" Will sounded like an impatient little kid.

Rick got to explaining the whole ordeal with Claire while Jack sat in the corner quietly.

After Rick finished there was an odd silence.

-door swings open with a BAM!-

A young boy came into the room.

"Why does everyone have to barge in here like that?" Will whined.

"Evening. I'm Ryan," Ryan said breathlessly. "I just ran all the way here. Claire sent me. Apparently, I'm coming with you? She told me so. But I have a question. Where are we going?"

"I don't know where _you_ are going. I had jest planned on commandeering a ship and getting the bloody hell out of here," Jack said defiantly.

Will shrugged. "I was just going to be doing my job like usual."

Jack and Will both looked at Rick who was looking at the floor with a smirk on his face.

"Rick?" they both said accusingly.

"JINX!" Rick yelled.

"What??" Ryan said very confused.

"Rick what's going on?"

"I... I... I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

"NO I DON'T!"

"FINE! WHATEVER!" (men really do act like babies sometimes don't they?)

Ryan just stood there confused. "Erhm, O... K?"

Rick decided to make a suggestion. He had to or else they could be stuck here all night and the movie wouldn't be nearly as good. "Let's go fight icky pirates!"

"YEAH!" yelled Ryan and Will.

–Ahem... – coughed Jack.

"I mean, well what I really meant was—"

"Save it."

Will passed around swords for everyone that didn't have one already, which would be everyone but Jack and himself, which would be Rick and Ryan.

They all ran outside and started chopping at people.

But Jack had an idea.

"RICK!"

"Fighting! –chop chop– What?"

"Where'd ye say Claire was gonna be?"

–chop– "The govenor's house. OOPS! Oh shit. NO JACK!"

Jack took off towards the govenor's house. Unfortunately for him he had to pass by the Fort to get there first.

---

Norrington was standing at the top of Fort Charles with only a few men. The men were all anxious because of all that was going on, but Norrington was quite sure of himself. The govenor had fled to Norrington's office and barracaded himself in there, hopefully, because by George that's what he had told him to do. He better have done it or...

There was hardly anyone in the streets surrounding the Fort which was surprising. Most pirates came for the arms as well as fortunes. But so far no one had been there.

He thought too soon. Someone was running, armed it looked like and in a hurry, towards the Fort.

"Men! There's an easy target. No use in shooting at him, though. We'll just be waiting for him by the time he gets here."

They all went down to the front of the Fort. They weren't in plain sight, though. The commodore was smart and decided to hide behind the building and wait for the pirate to run past the front wall before they pounced.

-Waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...FOOTSTEPS!-

"Get ready men," Norrington whispered.

-closer footsteps!-

-s'more closer footsteps!-

-EVEN CLOSER FOOTSTEPS!-

"AH HAH!" –nab–

Norrington grabbed the man and his men helped him wrestle him to the ground.

"Let go o' me!"

"Well, well, well. If it isn't our little Jack Sparrow."

"Bloody... WIGMAN!"

Norrington found a gag out of nowhere and stuffed it in Jack's mouth angrily.

He also adjusted his wig...

"I guess this shall be known as the day that Captain Jack Sparrow almost escaped. Take him away."

"Ymph wmph gmph mph wmph wph vmph!"

"So sorry, Mr. Sparrow. Would you mind repeating that?"

Jack gave the most spiteful look he could and aimed it directly at the center of Norrington's forehead.

One of Norrington's men rapped him over the head with something and he fell limp.

---

Claire was sprinting towards the lizard's house. Dodging pirates was harder to do now since it was nearing the time where the pirates would raid the govenor's house.

Finally, she reached the big oak doors. She turned around and leaned against them to catch her breath. She could already see the crowd of pirates coming to collect the medallion.

_'Maaann... I really don't want to go through this with.. with .. _her_!'_

But she pushed her way in the door anyways. As it turned out, Estrella was standing right there.

Claire knew that if she calmly explained what was happening that Estrella wouldn't believe it. So she had to use her mad acting skills.

(Out of breath sounding) "Pirates! (gasp) Coming! (breath) Must warn (another gasp) Miss Swann." (clutches chest looking like can't breathe)

The maid charged upstairs and Claire charged after her. She stopped at about the middle of the staircase because that was the best spot to see the pirates coming in.

Meanwhile, Estrella was fetching Elizabeth.

"Miss! A lady has run here and told me that there are pirates—"

-BANG-

Elizabeth and Estrella both ran out of her room and to the top of the staircase.

A butler was walking towards the door. They were trying to break in.

Elizabeth started running down the stairs.

Claire saw her and shouted to her. "Here, here! Best seat in the house."

Elizabeth gave her a weird look and shouted to the butler as he had his hand on the door handle. "DON'T!"

But he opened the door anyway.

There was the pirate gang.

Claire almost sang to herself she was so excited.

" 'ello chum."

-SHOOT-

Claire flinched and grimaced beside a shrieking Elizabeth.

"EW! It wasn't that gross in the movie!"

"Up there."

"GIRLS!"

Claire grabbed Elizabeth's arm and pulled her up the stairs. "This way please. Step lively."

"Excuse me! Who do you think you are, directing me in my own home?"

"_Excuse me_," Claire was mocking her, "you realize there's a gang of pirates chacing you-us-and you're worried about who I am? Sheesh... just shut up and come on."

They went into Elizabeth's room, closed the door, and ran into Estrella again.

"Miss Swann. They've come to kidnap you!"

"What?"

"You're the govenor's daughter."

_'These people think they've got it all figured out don't they...'_

"Being rich isn't everything, you know. They might want her for a reason other than the ice around her neck. Well... in this case I guess it is for what she's got around her neck."

Elizabeth gave Claire a look like _'how-do-you-know-what-I've-got-around-my-neck?' _but seemed to get the message.

-BANG-

She turned to the maid again. "Quick hide. At the first chance you get, run to the fort."

Elizabeth ran behind another wall and Claire followed.

The pirates saw the edge of Claire's/Will's pants go behind the wall as they broke through the door and headed that way.

-WAMB-

Elizabeth hit the pirate in the face with the bed-heater-thing.

"I liked you, just so you know," Claire said respectfully.

The other pirate came, too, but grabbed the heater thing. He began taunting Elizabeth with it. Claire reached over and started tickling the pirate maddly in the stomach.

"AHHH! No! Stop, please!"

"Move!" Elizabeth yelled to Claire. She jumped back and Elizabeth pulled the handle and all the red hot coals fell on the pirate's head.

"OO! Ahh! It's hot! You burned me!"

"SORRY! C'mon!" Claire tugged Elizabeth out of the room and they began running down the stairs. Claire saw Estrella scream as she ran over the dead butler infront of the door.

The pirates followed them. One of them had almost caught up with them and they were about to reach the bottom of the stair case when the other, jumped the railing and landed in front of them.

"It's the one with the wooden eye! YEAH! I've always wanted to meet you. So what's you're name? Ragetti, right?"

But he didn't answer her. He had to turn around and stare stupidly like everyone else at the cannon ball that ran into another pirate halfway across the room even though noone else could have even seen the cannon ball coming and so therefore had no reason to turn and stare.

Anyway, the chandelier fell and separated the two pirates from the two ladies.

Elizabeth felt smart so she took a candle holder and put it over the door handles. Psht. Like that would stop them. Elizabeth's stuff was cheap anyways, seeing that Will broke a different candle holder by just touching it earlier.

But then she felt even smarter and decided to take the **plaqued** crossed swords off the wall. Claire didn't know what she would have done with it anyways. Elizabeth was such a girl.

The swords didn't come out of the stupid plaque so they had to hide. Or rather, the lizard hid and left Claire to fend for herself.

Claire saw the pirates come in from under the table, where she was hiding.

Elizabeth was such a little brat, leaving Claire to find her own hiding spot when she knew there was enough room in the closet. Under the table was such a bad hiding spot that the pirates found her instantly.

"Stupid Govenor's daughter, miss priss, Miss I-think-I-already-run-Port-Royal!"

"SHUT UP!" the pirate with bright yellow eyes shouted at her.

"I'LL SHUT UP WHEN I WANT TO SHUT UP!"

He pointed a pistol in her face.

Claire just laughed. "PARLEY! NYE!!!!!!! You can't hurt me, na na na na na na!" She blew a raspberry at them.

"Blaizes wit' the code."

"I WANT TO BE TAKEN TO YOUR CAPTAIN! And I'll go wit'out a fuss. Oh yeah and before I forget, Elizabeth is hiding in that closet with your medallion."

"Stupid wench! Why did you tell them?" Elizabeth came storming out of the closet.

The pirate that had yelled at Claire pointed the gun in her face, too.

"Give me that medallion, or—"

"Parley."

"URGH! I'm just tryin' ta do me duty like a good little pirate and two wenches come along and spoil it all."

"It's OK. I know what you mean... hey! TWO wenches?! I was just helpin' you out!"

The pirate looked at Claire in disgust. "Let's go. Both o' ya!"

---

Will, Ryan, Rick, and icky pirates were all fighting each other. Actually, Ryan, Will, and Rick were fighting the icky pirates. Will had just stabbed one of them when he saw Elizabeth and Claire being dragged along by two pirates.

"Elizabeth! Claire?"

"Will!" Elizabeth whispered.

"_Will!_" Claire said in a 'yes-I'm-making-fun-of-you' voice and reached out her hand towards Will dramatically before waving a giggly good-bye.

_'Something's up,'_ Will thought. _'She's got that look in her eye that she gets whenever something's up. And it's not usually good. How did this all get so messed up?'_


	15. Imprisonment and Entertainment

Alright. I've decided to eff this whole post/wait for some reviews thing, because apparently everyone's too busy for fanfiction anymore, myself included. So I'm just going to post all that I have already and just see who likes it. Whatever. I just want it finished. I started this thing in 8th grade. I'm now a junior in high school. It needs to be over.

* * *

Claire watched in excitement as their little row boat drew closer and closer to _The Black Pearl_. 

They boarded, and the extremely muscular pirate approached them.

"I didn't know we was takin' on captives." He glared at the two pirates and then at the girls.

Claire was all smiles. "She's invoked the right of parley with Captain Barbossa!" Then she winked and whispered, "Nice to meet you!"

Elizabeth stormed forward. "I am here to negotiate—"

-SMACK!-

Elizabeth spun around so fast she was dizzy, but the seering pain on her cheek was worse.

"You will speak when spoken to!" the huge pirate growled.

Barbossa walked up just then and Claire almost freaked out.

He grabbed the pirate's arm. "And ye not lay a hand on those under the protection of parley."

Angrily, the pirate tugged his arm out of Barbossa's hand. "Aye, sah."

"Apologies, miss."

"Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal."

The crew laughed.

"There be a lot of long words, there, Miss. We're not but humble pirates. What is it that you want."

Claire shoved Elizabeth out of the way. "I'll take it from here. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Barbossa! What's up, man?! Pleasure to meet you, finally." She shook his hand vigorously. "OK, in énglish what Elizabeth meant was she wants you to leave and never come back."

Everyone laughed again, even Claire.

"I'm disinclined to aquiest to your request."

Claire turned around and looked at Liz. "Sorry, hun. Means no."

She just _hmph_-ed.

Claire turned back to Barbossa. "OK, well. You have to. We have the last remaining piece you've been searching for."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. She stared back, and won again.

He glanced around at his crew. "I don't have any idea what ye're talkin' about."

Claire walked over to Liz, yanked off the medallion, and held it over the water. "I'll drop it."

Now, this scene really is rediculous because if I dropped it one of them could just swim down and get it, being undead at all. It's not like it'd be lost forever. Stupid pirates...

But the pirates all gathered closer around her. They weren't quite so cocky anymore.

Barbossa laughed it off. "Me holds are burstin' with swag. That bit of shine matters to us? Why?"

Elizabeth butted in. "I recognize this ship! I saw it eight years ago on the crossing from England!"

"Did ye now."

"Fine." Claire let the medallion slip through her fingers just a little.

The pirates launched themselves towards the medallion.

"NOOO!"

Bo'sun, the huge pirate who smacked Liz earlier, now knocked her over while attempting to reach the gold.

Claire started laughing hysterically.

"Eh heh. Do ye have a name, missy?"

"I'm Claire Johnson! Nice to meet you. That's Elizabeth TURNER, though."

Liz looked confused, but played along. "Yes, I'm a main in the governor's household."

Barbossa and his crew got very excited. "Miss TURNER..."

Ragetti looked at Claire and then at Pintel. "Bootstrap!"

"It's a family heirloom," Claire said. "No big deal. But I can't give it to you unless you leave us and Port Royal alone."

Barbossa thought on this. "Very well. Ye hand it over and we'll put your town to our rudder and ne'er return."

"Cross your heart, hope to die?"

"Yes." He held out his hand.

"EH! Pinky promise!" Claire held out her pinky finger and linked it with his, then shook it.

"OK!" Claire gave him the medallion, which he gave to Jack. "Can I pet the monkey?"

Jack lept onto her shoulder and he moved his little head around and smiled as she scratched him behind the ears and under his chin.

"Yes, you're a good little monkey, aren't you!"

Elizabeth pushed past Claire as Barbossa walked away.

Claire decided to follow her because Jack had left again.

"You have to take me to shore!"

Claire grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"First, your return to shore wasn't part of the negotiation nor our agreement, so he can't do anything. Second, you have to be a pirate for the pirate's code to aply and you're nowhere _near_ a pirate. And third, the code is more of what you'd call guidelines than actual rules."

Pintel and Ragetti had snuck up on them and now grabbed each girl by the arm.

"Welcome aboard The Black Pearl, Miss TURNER!" Pintel said as he lead the girls into a small room.

Claire linked arms with Ragetti and practically skipped across the deck.

---

When Jack woke, all the commotion was over, the sun was shining, chickens were clucking madly all over the place, and Will, Rick and that other young man were standing at the foot of his cell. He couldn't help but grin.

"Sparrow." Will said.

"Aye."

"How'd you get in here?"

"Tha' bloody Commodore Norrington nabbed me on my way to gettin' Claire back an' threw me in 'ere. Stupid... wigged... bloiter..."

"Well anyway, on with what we came for." Rick said. "You are familiar with that ship – the _Black Pearl_?"

And so went the schpeele with Jack pretending he doesn't know about his own ship then explains the story, and Will tells Jack he'll bust him out of jail.

Jack hesitated a moment. "Tell me this at least, what's your name."

"Will Turner."

"No not you, ingrate. That one." Jack pointed at Ryan.

"I'm Ryan," Ryan stated.

"Well now that we're all properly introduced, can you make a decision, Jack?"

He thought about it some more. Why was he even second guessing this? It was a free ticket out.

"Jack... you know they took Claire too..."

"WHAT! Those long stream of inapropriate words pirates!!!!!!!"

Rick smiled. "Do we have an accord then?"

"You get me out o' here and I swear on pain of death I shall take you to _The Black Pearl_ and yer bonny lass." In a lower voice he added "Jest wait'l I get my hands around their filthy little necks..."

"Jack, calm down. Claire's fine. I can assure you that. She probably went willingly," Rick attempted as Will was busting Jack out.

"Quick! Someone would have heard that."

"Not without my effects."

--

"How dare you! You, nasty little wench!"

"Liz, dude. Calm down. You don't understand. Jest chill and let me talk, mk?"

Elizabeth _hmph_-ed again, folded her arms, and listened to what this dispicable, disgraceful girl had to say.

"Mk. First. From this moment on, let it be common knowledge that I don't like you, and you don't like me. Understand? It's a mutual hate, right? OK. Now let's get over it. Second. You are going t' hafta trust me. I know exactly what I'm doing and how to handle these guys."

"If you're so good at negotiating with pirates then why didn't you make Barbossa take us back to shore!"

"Because I made a better negotiation. I told him not to harm us. And that one's on a pinky promise so he can't break it. Plus, it's your fault. You should have told him if you wanted to be taken back to shore. I want to be here. Don't impune me for your own mistakes, lady."

"How can you _want_ to be here. These are pirates that could rape and kill us at any moment and you _want_ to be here? Are you insane?"

"They _could_; but they _won't_. These guys are awesome! You don't even know. Jest wait til later. There's a really cool scene coming up, too. And yes, I am insane, but not because of this. This is like mild insanity."

"Wait—'coming up'? What does that mean? How do you know what's coming?"

"I'm a witch. ooOOoooo!!!!!!" Claire made creapy alien music.

Elizabeth kept her distance from Claire as best she could until the two pirates that captured her walked in.

"Hello!" Claire bounced.

The pirates looked at her like she was a freak. And she was.

"You'll be dinin' with the cap'in. An' 'e requests you wear these."

"OOO pretty..." Claire grabs one dress. "I don't ever get to dress up at home."

Elizabeth looked disgustingly at Claire.

"Well, you may tell the captain that I am disinclined to aquiest to his request."

The pirates laughed. " 'e said you'd say dat." His smiled faded almost immediately. " 'e also said if dat be de case, you'll be dinin' with de crew. And you'll be naked." The pirates started laughing.

Elizbeth looked as if she were going to puke for a minute then grabbed the dress.

The pirates stopped laughing. "Fine."

Claire joined in. "It's alright fella's. Nothin' much to look at anyway..."

The pirates laughed a little. One said:

"Ye know, you're not dat bad."

"Why, thank you, kind sir!" Claire had never gotten a compliment from a pirate before. _'Wow...'_

"Why don't you come have diner with us... You don't hafta be naked or anythin' though. I mean you can if you want but..."

"Ahh... thanks guys but I can't. I hafta keep a watch over her," Claire looked over her shoulder at Elizabeth who was staring at her dress in disgust. "Poor thing.. she can barely take care of herself without maids... Can we talk a bit longer though before I have to go? I've never met a cursed pirate before and I want to know everything."

"Uh... sure. What you wantta know?"  
"Well, to start out, what are your names again?"

"I'm Pintel and dat there's Ragetti."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Claire."

They shook hands and walked out on deck.

The moon wasn't out quite yet...

--

Barbossa slid the chair out for Elizabeth and pushed it back in as she was sitting down.

Food was already in front of Elizbeth's plate and she was very hungry but she still ate like a propper lady.

It was his own version of sick pleasure to watch her eat. It pained him, yet excited him. He wanted so badly to join in and stuff his face with delicious ham and chicken but he no longer could. Food didn't do a damn thing.

He was surprised she was even eating. He thought she wouldn't because she would have suspected something to be wrong with it. But she didn't.

He sort of half-laughed. "There's no need to stand on ceremony nor call to impress anyone. You must be hungry."

Elizabeth, like the little piggy she is, grasped her chicken leg with both hands and stuck her face into it.

Just then, Claire burst into the room, panting.

She had the dress on that Pintel and Ragetti had brought to her. It really was quite georgeous. It was a scarlet gown that cut rather low in the chest area with black decorative lace along the seams. Down the center was an intricate design that must have taken forever to come up with. It was also black. The center dipped into a V-shape as the top came together with the bottom half of the dress. It was a bit poofy and swished when she walked but comfortable enough to do so. Along the bottom seams were also black laced designs with dangling pieces every so often.

"Sorry. I was talking and didn't realize dinner started with_out_ me- Elizabeth, you pig. Slow down. You're gonna get a cramp."

"Shut up, whore. I'm hungry." Claire raised her eyebrows in surprise. It was the first time Elizabeth had actually said something somewhat hurtful.

Claire sat down across the table from the little pig who was reaching for a biscuit. Eh, now it's gone.

Barbossa handed Elizabeth a goblet of wine and she gulped it down. It wasn't until Barbossa said "And the apple's one of those next," that she finally stopped eating. Her second biscuit crumbled out of her hand. She spoke with her mouth full, afraid of swallowing.

"It's poisoned..."

Barbossa and Claire both laughed. Barbossa rounded on Claire and shot her a nasty look. She stopped.

"There'd be no sense to be killin' ye, Miss Turner."

Elizabeth finally swallowed. "Then release us—me. You have your trinket. I'm of no further value to you."

Barbossa pulled the medallion out of his pocket that was hidden somewhere in his amazing over coat... thing. "Ye don't know what this is, do ye?"

"Here we go." Claire said excitedly. Images of very cute boys dancing on treadmills flew through her mind. She hummed in her head. She pulled Jack the monkey off his swinging stand thing and started petting him.

"It's a pirate medallion," Elizabeth sassed.

"This is Aztec gold… one of 882 identical pieces they delivered in a stone chest to Cortéz himself. Blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his armies. But the greed of Cortéz was insatiable. So the heathen gods placed upon the gold… a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a single piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity."

Claire started clapping but Elizabeth said "I hardly believe in ghosts stories anymore, Captain Barbossa." Claire frowned at her and stopped clapping. Jack the monkey jumped on Barbossa's shoulder. _'Poo...'_

"Aye. That's exactly what I thought when we were first told the tale. Buried on an Island of Dead what cannot be found except for those who know where it is. Find it, we did. There be the chest. Inside be the gold. And we took 'em all!" Claire kept making hand gestures to match what Barbossa was saying.

"We spent 'em and traded 'em and frittered 'em away on drink and food and pleasurable company." Elizabeth made a face.

"The more we gave 'em away, the more we came to realize the drink would not satisfy, food turned to ash in our mouths, and all the pleasurable company in the world could not slake our lust. We are cursed men, Miss Turner. Compelled by greed, we were, but now we are consumed by it." Jack the monkey started screaching and Barbossa gave the medallion to him. He gnawed on it.

Elizabeth took the butter knife from her lovely arrangement of silverware when Barbossa turned the other way.

"NO! NO! Put it back!" Claire mouthed. She made her hand slice across her throat, clearly telling her that it was a BAD IDEA! Barbossa walked by her and she quickly smiled at him like nothing was wrong.

Elizabeth insisted on putting the butter knife in the fold of her napkin on her lap.

Barbossa continued. "There is one way we can end our curse. All the scattered pieces of the Aztec gold must be restored and the blood repaid." Jack the monkey jumped off Barbossa's shoulder and ran out of the room.

"Thanks to ye, we have the final piece."

Claire got up very slowly, to get a better angle of the scene coming up.

Elizabeth winced. "And the b-blood to be repaid?"

"That's why there's no sense to be killin' ye... yet." Barbossa smiled evily.

"Apple?"

Elizabeth jumped up and knocked the apple out of Barbossa's hand, holding the terrifying butter knife in the air, as if she was really going to stab him. It was cute how she thought she was brave. She gave up and started running towards the door. Barbossa ran around the side of the support beam and met her on the other side. She ran the other way. "BOO!" Claire yelled. She ran the other way. Barbossa was there. "ARGH!!!!!" She ran straight for the door, but he caught her and...

-STAB-

Elizabeth gasped. Barbossa looked down at the butter knife in the spot where his heart should probably have been. Claire chuckled and walked up beside Barbossa.

He pulled the knife out of his chest. "I'm curious – after killin' me what was it you're plannin' on doing next?"

Claire reached up, grabbed the knife and licked it.

"OH! I _knew_ it was jelly!"

Elizabeth stared in horror as Barbossa yanked the butter knife away from Claire and began to round on her.

Claire patted him on the shoulder. "Neat-o. I wanna see this... HA!"

Elizabeth ran out the door backwards and almost fell into GASP! a skeleton pirate! Dun, dun, dun...

She shrieked every which way she went. They were EVERYWHERE! What was wrong with this ship?! Why was she here? How did she ever get mixed up in something like this?

Claire elbowed Barbossa. "Hey, watch this." She realized that Barbossa was now pointing the butter knife at her and she was not undead or made of jelly. "Eh heh heh... BYE!" She ran out into the moon light and started waltzing with a skeleton Ragetti.

"La, lee lee. La, lee lee. Nee-er-ree, dum, nee-er-ree. Nee-er-ree, dat, la dee dum." She started singing a song from a different movie that she was in love with: Finding Neverland. Dancing With The Bear

"Claire? Why aren't you terrified like that one there?"

"Who, Liz? Oh, she just freaks out over everything. Plus, I've seen this movie before and I think you guys are all really tight!"

He looked confused. "Movie... tight? Am I holding you too tight?"

"No, never mind..."

Elizabeth tripped backwards over a board and fell onto the sheet that the pirates were shaking up and down, throwing Elizabeth into the air.

"Gotta go. You're a good dancer by the way... later dude!"

Claire ran over to the hole in the deck where the sheet was and dove onto it.

"WEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Elizabeth got caught by some dude flying on a rope and started screaming even louder.

Claire started doing different flips during her moments of weightlessness. Ragetti, Pintel, and some others were gathered around hooting for the really nifty looking flips.

Elizabeth got dropped on the deck and the pirate that was flying on the rope fell too and started chasing her. She ran up to the helm and was being blocked from the pirate, solely by the wheel. She ran to one side, the pirate was there. She ran to the other, the pirate was there. Then she just stood still and the pirate reached for her so his arms were strattling the wheel. Elizabeth spun it and it was smacking the pirate on the chin until his head cracked backwards.

In a very disgusting way he cracked it sideways so it was level with the rest of his body, then cracked it again so it was looking straight. He groaned and looked demonicly at Elizabeth.

She ran for cover under the stairs but only momentarily. Jack the monkey hung down skillfully by his tail and screached at her.

Claire made one last flip in mid-air and then landed in the cradled arms of three pirates. "Ta-da!" She heard Jack the monkey screaching.

"Sorry guys, that's my cue. Gotta go. Nice catch!"

Elizabeth ran around frantically and bumped into Barbossa again. He grabbed her and spun her around. Claire, noticing he had put away the jelly covered knife, strutted to his side and looked around at the beautiful night sky.

Elizabeth's view: A dense eerie fog had crept in upon them. The men were no longer and now were walking death. The cursed men's frames stopped their doings and stared at her with their crusty, yellow, sickly looking eyes.

Claire's view: The moonlight streamed down upon the deck like fairy dust on the Darling children's heads. A fog had crept in around the cursed ship, making it even more mystical. The pirate skeletons stopped cleaning and working momentarily to watch Elizabeth get the garders scared off of her.

Barbossa broke the silence. "Look! The moonlight shows us for what we really are. We are not among the living, and so we cannot die, but neither are we dead. For too long I've been parched with thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. I feel nothing – not the wind on my face nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh." Barbossa reached out to Elizabeth, the moonlight catching his fingers, transforming them into dead spindly bones."You best start believing in ghost stories Miss Turner . You're in one!" Barbossa yanked the cork out of his bottle of wine with his teeth. He put the bottle to where his lips would be and poured the bottle's contents down his would-be-throat. The sweet liquor dribbled over his cold, cursed bones hauntingly and onto the ground, emphasizing his true self: empty.

"No! You're wasting it! Stop!"

Elizabeth ran inside the doors and Barbossa threw the empty wine bottle against the doors and shut them.

He began laughing and the whole crew laughed with him; Claire laughed the loudest.

"Haha! Great show. It never gets old..." Claire decided she should go and try to comfort Elizabeth at least a little.

Barbossa suddenly stopped laughing and to the crew said "What are ye looking at? Back to work!"

Although Ragetti did get back to work, he kept thinking about Claire. There was something very odd about her. He wasn't sure yet what it was but it didn't seem right. What was she talking about: movies, tight, dude? Why wasn't she scared of their horrific skeletal states? It was just too bizarre. He kept these thoughts to himself, however. He made a promise that he would find out everything about her before they reached La Isla de Muerta. Ragetti wasn't credited nearly enough, but he would find the answers to this mystery...

* * *

Eh, sorry, that one's not as good... 


	16. Ready To Make Way

The boys broke out of the fort without anyone really noticing. They ran through the forest, through the inlet and stopped under the bridge.

Jack was scheming.

Ryan spoke for the first time.

"We're going to steal a ship? That ship?" he asked, following Jack's eyes.

It was sad. The boy was so good.

Jack considered this for a moment. "Commandeer. It's a nautical term. If you're going to run around with a pirate, boy, ye need to know his language, savvy? We're going to commandeer that ship," he motioned to the interceptor.

Jack turned around to face the rest, Will in particular. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could get the words out Rick said, "He'd die for her, Jack."

Jack cocked his head suspiciously. Rick just smiled innocently and Jack shrugged it off.

"Alright, no worries then."

Will and Ryan exchanged an anxious look.

When they were sure no one was looking, Jack, Will, Ryan, and Rick scurried over to the shore and hid beneath two canoes. They waited for some sailors to pass and they set off into the ocean.

Will was with Rick and Jack with Ryan. Poor boy, Claire had already freaked him out and now he's about to embark on an adventure with pirates.

He'll enjoy himself in the end, Rick thought.

The men walked along the ocean bed holding the boats over their heads both for air and cover.

Ryan was definitely not happy to be with Jack. He hated pirates. But something about Claire had convinced him to come along. He wouldn't admit it to himself but he also wanted an adventure.

"Why're you so silent, boy? Ye're not scared, are ye?"

Ryan didn't say anything.

"Oh, come on, boy! I don't bite! I don't even bark! I just smell and have a few fleas..."

Still Ryan said nothing.

Jack tried a different approach.

"So, is there some girl you're chasing after in this little 'venture we're on? Eh?"

He was stuck on the ocean bed carrying a boat with a pirate trying to coax his private life out of him.

"You're not going to stop bothering me until I answer are you?" Ryan asked finally.

"Eh, no."

He paused. "I guess I'm chasing after Claire, if you think about it. She just dragged me into it."

"Really, now. That wasn't so bad now was it? How do you know Claire?"

"Well, I bumped into her during all of the commotion last night. She acted so strange, used odd language and such. Blabbering on about how much she wanted to stay and talk to the pirates. I had to get her out of there."

Jack smiled. It was like her. He'd only known her a few days and he was reminiscing about her. He shook it out of his head.

"Aye, think she's a bit of an alcoholic, maybe. Nothing wrong with that mind you. Did you know I found her floating into Port Royal in her bed?"

Ryan shook his head. "That doesn't exactly surprise me."

Just then Ryan stepped into a wooden crate with a string and a barrel attached to it. He tried to shake it off but it was stuck around his ankle.

"Leave it," Jack said. "We could use it."

---

Struggling to keep the boat over their heads and not sending it floating to the surface, Will said, "This is neither madness, nor brilliance."

Rick smiled, "Strange how often those two seem to coincide."

"Alright, Rick. I know you're not from here and I want to know why you're so strange. How do you know what's going to happen? How do you know things about me and what people are going to say? And what's up with Claire? She's the same way. She was mouthing words exactly as I was saying them. I mean, she's alright but she's stranger than you! Is she a witch?!"

Rick was cracking up. "All very good questions. Some I cannot answer. I'm still learning them myself. Claire however, well, she's just a teenager. Weren't we all strange when we were young?"

"Yes, but she's way out of the ordinary."

"Well, she has powers that no one can imagine. Myself included. She only needs to learn how to use that power."

"I knew it! She is a witch! And I bet you are, too! I knew it!"

Suddenly, the front of their canoe hit the back of Jack and Ryan's. Will lost his grip and the back end shop upward. Air bubbles escaped from the edges of the boat and it floated upward carrying Rick.

Will used the rope that was attached to Ryan's ankle to pull himself to the surface.

He gasped for air when his head broke from the surface and found Rick laughing hysterically.

Ryan followed the same path as Will after untangling his foot from the crate, and Jack floated calmly to the surface beneath their boat.

They were beside _The Dauntless_.

---

As soon as Claire walked in the cabin she saw Liz curled up in a ball, twitching and looking around at the slightest sign of movement. When Claire walked in, she shouted, "You stay away from me!"

Claire shook her head sympathetically and kept coming.

"I don't know who you are—"

"I'm your new friend, Claire!"

"—or how you think this is remotely fun but it's not fun for me, alright? So just let me be! PLEASE!"

Claire bent down, put her arms around her tightly, and rubbed her back.

Liz was surprised but hugged her back. She was happy to be comforted finally.

Claire let Liz cry into her shoulder. It was pathetic really but then, they came from different times and Liz wasn't even close to being as exposed as Claire was. She let her have her moment, then:

"Alright, alright, you're getting my dress all snotty."

Liz lifted her head from Claire's shoulder and tried to pull herself back together.

"This doesn't mean I like you," she said.

"I know. I hate you too, sweetie."

"So, will you tell me? How do you know everything? About what's going to happen, I mean."

"I'm psychic. I was born with ESP."

Liz wasn't buying it.

"OK, well, it's kind of a long story but we've got a while so..."

Claire tried as best she could to explain everything. She told her about the dream and how she woke up in her bed in the middle of the Caribbean. She told her about how she found Jack and knew what was going to happen from the movie.

"I've just kind of been playing along and having fun, and well, here I am," she finished.

Liz looked confused.

"But I still don't understand. What's a movie?"

"It's after your time. They haven't been invented yet. They're really popular where I'm from. Basically, it's a story told through moving pictures."

"It hasn't been invented yet? So are you saying you're from the future?"

"Sort of. I'm not really sure. All I know is that I woke up and I'm here. It might be the past here but I just don't know. Besides what I've done, what happened in the movie is happening in exactly the same way it is here, so I don't think it's exactly the past. No one makes movies word for word, parallel with history."

"Then what could it be?"

"I have no idea."

Ragetti walked in unexpectedly. He was his undead human-looking-self again, but Liz still shivered.

"Miss Claire, could I talk to you possibly?"

"You are, Ragetti."

"I meant, well, somewhere more private."

Claire looked at Liz and she waved her off.

They walked on deck. It was quiet surprisingly. There was fog all around. They must be near the dreaded island.

This was exciting.

"Erhm, Miss Claire-"

"Just call me Claire."

"Claire, erhm, I was wondering. Why aren't you scared of us like Miss Turner? You actually seem to like us. That doesn't happen. Ever."

"Oh, you're being too hard on yourself, really. You guys are so cool you have no idea. I mean, how many people can say they turn into a skeleton when the moon's out and can't die."

"But, we're pirates. Everyone hates pirates except for pirates. And even most of them hate us." He started rubbing his splintering wooden eye.

"Not me. Stop rubbing your eye. It will only make it worse." She pulled his hand away from his eye.

Ragetti flinched and pulled his hand away.

"What's wrong?" Claire asked, surprised.

He stared at her, his mouth hanging open.

"Ragetti? What's going on?"

"I- I felt you."

"Um, yeah. That's what happens most of the time when someone touches someone."

"No, no. That's part of our curse. We don't feel nothing, not even the warmth of a woman's flesh. And yet, I felt you when you touched my hand." He continued to stare at her very confused.

Claire looked down at her own hand. Nothing looked different or out of the ordinary. She shrugged it off.

Pintel came up and hit Ragetti on the back.

"We've got to get the girl."

Ragetti still stared at Claire.

"Come on," she said. She linked his arm and pulled him into the room where Liz was.

"Time to go, poppet!"

---

"Aye! Avast!" Will shouted at the navy men.

The crew laughed. Will looked around for Jack, but he didn't show up.

_'Great...'_

Gillette walked up to Will, still chortling and pursing his lips.

"This ship cannot be crewed by one man. You'll never get her out of the bay." He smirked, raised his eyebrows a few times and pursed his lips some more.

Will started stuttering. "Oh, yeah? Well, I've got –erhm– a big nasty –erhm– wooden –I mean steal!—"

"Shut up, Will," Jack said while cocking his pistol against Gillette's temple. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?"

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!" out of nowhere Rick Jamesbitch swung on a rope yelling like Tarzan and kicked Gillette overboard. Ryan came swinging right behind him screaming like a girl and bumped into another big sailor's stomach and made him throw up.

The crew got off the ship and the four men were free to sail.

* * *

I own nothing from Garden State, almost the greatest movie ever. 


	17. Intercept This!

WEEEEE!!!

* * *

Jack and Rick were teaching Ryan and Will how to sail when Gillette caught Norrington's eye.

"Sparrow and Turner and some other blokes are taking our ship! They're taking _The Dauntless_!" he yelled waving his arms around, trying to be dramatic.

They had already casted off and were headed towards the sea.

"That has got to be the worst pirate I've ever seen. To _The Interceptor_!"

Will, Ryan, and Rick all finished what they were doing and came to the helm to join Jack. "Here they come," Ryan said.

Jack turned and saw _The Interceptor_ gaining on them. He smiled sexily.

_The Interceptor_ glided along beside _The Dauntless_. The men threw their hooks and latched onto _The Dauntless_.

The four delinquents were nowhere to be found.

"Search every cabin, every hold, down to the bildage!" Norrington barked.

While the navy men scurried all over the ship looking for them, Rick, Will, Jack, and Ryan swung over to _The Interceptor_ and cut the ropes connecting the two ships. However, Ryan screamed again while swinging onto _The Interceptor_.

Norrington heard it.

"Sailors back to _The Interceptor_, NOW!"

Two brave navyment swung over but landed in the ocean.

"Set top sail and clear up this mess."

"We can't catch her, sir."

"I don't need to catch her. Just get her in range of the long nines."

"RUN OUT THE GUNS! Are we to fire on our own ship, sir?"

"I'd rather see her at the bottom of the ocean than in the hands of a pirate," Norrington said quite angrily.

A sailor at the helm yelled a bit frustrated, "He's disabled the rudder chain, sir!"

---

She was very quick. Very close to _The Pearl_'s speed.

Jack looked back in triumph as he watched the Royal Navy scurry around, confused.

"Thank you, Commodore for getting us ready to make way!"

"Yeah, thanks!" Rick yelled.

"Thanks!" Ryan/Will added.

"JINX!"

"What the bloody hell... will someone please explain this to me?"

"We'd have had a hard time of it by ourselves!"

They dropped to the ground at the sound of gun shots.

---

Groves then said the truest words on earth: "That's got to be the best pirate I've ever seen."

Norrington was pissed. "So it would seem. Fix this ship and ready her for a long journey and possible battle. NOW!"

Meanwhile, Gillette was feeling important, standing at the front of the row boat Jack had let down for him. Then he saw the bow of _The Interceptor_ sailing right for him.

He threw his hands up in the air dramatically and screamed, "Abandon ship!" before he belly flopped into the water.

* * *

aww, such a short chapter. what ever will you do? 


	18. Amber and Onyx

so i started writing (actually writing) this again over spring break and i'm just now finishing it haha. before i'd kind of just been revising chapters over again from the last time it got deleted and this is my first completely original stuff in about two years so we'll see how it goes. i've got a couple more chapters lined up too so the more you like it, the more you'll get.

just let me know.

* * *

The four boys were well on their way to Tortuga when Will broke the silence.

"When my mother died I came out here, looking for my father, you know?" he directed at Jack.

"Is that so?" Jack was messing around with the rigging and such, uninterested.

'Uh, oh...' Rick suddenly realized that because Ryan was there, Jack hadn't started formulating his plan at the right time. He inquired about Ryan's name and not Will's. He had to set them back on track.

"Ah yes, William, Billium, Bill, whatever you'd fancy. Essentially Bill Turner. Ring any bells, Jack?"

"It's _captain_, mate, _Captain_ Jack."

"How do you know my father? How does _he_ know my father?"

"Excuse me, _Captain_ Jack, you know it was only after you know Will's name at the hospital that you would've agreed to help us."

Jack kept moving around unphased.

"Yes," Will said. The light bulbs were going off all over the place. "But since that's what I wanted I didn't press that matter. I'm not a simpleton, Jack. You knew my father."

Rick could faintly hear Claire shouting 'No, Will, I am your father!' from the depths of his imagination.

Jack finally stopped and looked angrily at Rick—who smiled his creepy-ass smile—and then at Will.

"I knew him. Most peopled called him Bootstrap or Bootstrap Bill. I was one of the few who knew him as William Turner."

"Well, aren't you special, then..." Ryan blurted out.

Jack shot him a death glare, then continued.

"Good man. Good pirate. I swear you look just like him." He was back at the helm and Will nearly jumped on hiim.

"My father was not a pirate!" he yelled, dramatically ripping out his sword.

"Lad, ye know ye won't win. You're 0 for 2 and I've only known you a day."

"You ignored the rules of an engagement. In a fair fight I'd have killed you."

"That's not much insentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?"

Jack spun the wheel completely to starboard with the entire possé in line of the mast. Rick ducked because he knew what was coming, but the mast hit Ryan and Will straight in the gut. Will managed to hang on while Ryan went flying into the Caribbean screaming once again.

"Serves ye right, ye little snot! I'll teach ye to smart mouth me!"

Rick sighed. "I'll go fetch him."

Jack turned to Will and started in on his schpeel of foreshadowing.

Rick tied a life line around his waste and dove into the cool Caribbean. He could see everything around him, even though the area was quite deep. Colorful schools of fish swam by beneath him; the rays of the sun trickled through the water at obscure angles making the spectacle even more dazzling.

Suddenly, Rick realized what he was swimming above: a sunken ship. He quickly found Ryan bobbing in the water above him before undulating deeper into the green water to investigate. He was a fairly good swimmer. After all his ancestors were swimmers.

He swam to the mast and discovered, by the design of the vessel, it was a merchant ship from somewhere in the East, perhaps somewhere in the Indian Ocean. He brushed away some gathering sea bacterians and lightly fingered the delicate silk woven flag. The emblem was unknown to him, but it was beautiful: a weave of wind filled pure white canvas sailing into the setting sun bleeding against a turqoise sky.

Rick glanced toward the surface again. Ryan was still kicking so he decided to investigate.

The mast was covered in beautifully intricate carvings and the sails—though almost worn away—were nearly glowing white. Rick thought it odd but swam on.

As he reached the deck, a beam of light shining through the water caught the surface of an object and Rick's attention. He swam nearer and nearer toward the gleaming object until it dawned on him exactly what it was—which he was now floating in front of—that had captivated him: the eye of a dead man chained to the mast.

The man's skin was still attached and still dark and still looked very much alive. He certainly looked like he came from the Eastern part of the world with coffee stained skin and coarse black hair.

What interested Rick more, however, was not the state the dead man was in, but the little wonder he held in his frail arms. The onyx sphere precautiously hidden beneath the dead man's sleeves danced with the sunlight that showered it, entirely entrancing Rick.

When he stole a quick glance at the dead man he noticed those wide glazed amber eyes now laid their gaze on his own. The moment held the strangest sensation. They stared at each other, Rick and the dead man, studying each other. His heart was leaping through his throat, but he didn't move a muscle. The dead man's pupil-less eyes fixed him with such a sense of knowledge that it seemed the man was not dead at all and that this was just a step in some huge scheme.

Then the dead man winked.

Rick felt like a sprinter waiting for the bullet and didn't waste an ounce of time.

Gasping for air, Rick broke the surface. The moment had only lasted a few seconds but he was sure time had lapsed close to an hour. Attempting to reclaim his composure, he called out for Ryan. He found him with ease, struggling to stay afloat in the huge swells.

"I hate that stupid pirate! Why did we bring him again?"

Ryan seemed to notice nothing about the amount of time past. It was best to act as if nothing had happened at all.

"He's showing us how to get to the Pearl."

"But he's a pirate. How can you just put your trust in him like this?"

Rick grabbed Ryan and began pulling on the rope to bring them back to the Interceptor.

"C'mon, Ryan! Don't be so callice! Live a little! You have to give people a bit more credit than that."

Ryan was baffled. "I don't understand you! You and Claire both! You're crazy!"

He didn't say another word.

They climbed aboard just as Jack was handing Will his own sword again.

"Tortuga?"


	19. All The World's A Stage

"Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, _hoo_!" Raggetti chanted as Barbossa placed the medallion around Liz's neck.

"I call shotty with Barbossa!" Claire yelled. Noone even looked at her. They were all becoming accostomed to her insanity.

She began humming on the boat ride to the pirate's cave. The crew didn't mind it at first while she kept it quiet; but after a bit she started getting really into it an Barbossa rounded on her.

"What the blazes is wrong with you, wench?"

"You don't scare me, Captain. You see, unlike most of your hostages, you do not intimmidate me. Instead, I look up to all of you, like the family I never had." She finished dramatically, sniffing and faking tears in her eyes.

"Shut up," Barbossa snapped.

"I can't wait for you to shut me up. Shut _it __up_" +

The crew reached the shore of the cave and began dragging the loot inside. Claire immediately found Liz and cackled in her ear. "I'll take it from here, boys," she said to the pirates forcing Liz to move, grabbing her arm forcefully.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"I had to look aggressive or else they wouldn't have let me lead you. Now, just let me be the one to tell you that you really have nothing to be afraid of. All Barbossa's gonna do is talk a lot of shit—pardon my french—about undoing the curse and he makes it seem like he's gonna slice your throat but it's basically just a prick of the finger."

"And that's supposed to make me feel _better_?"

"Uh, duh! You're not gonna die. God, be happy, bitch!"

Claire left Liz, then, to play dress-up with Pintel and Raggetti.

---

As the boys sailed in to Tortuga, Rick decided he would try to contact Claire.

"Once we's rid o' the curse, we'll have enough gold to buy you an eye that fits and is made o' glass."

"This one does splinter something terrible." Raggetti started rubbing his eye, irritating it more.

"Stop rubbing it!" Claire shouted and grabbed his arm. "Whoa! Hey!"

Just as the Bosun was about to come up and look at the three all irritated like and roll his eyes, time slowed again.

"Claire? Can you here me?"

"Rick! How's it going, man? Where are you guys? About ready for Captain Jack to 'fall behind', eh?"

There was silence.

"Eh, Rick? What's wrong?"

"We're just now arriving in Tortuga," he choked.

He heard Claire swear under her breath. "Well, what are we going to do? How did this happen?"

"I don't know, for some reason your presence here has made everything begin to change."

"Damn... well, I can stall these guys for a little while, but you've all got to hurry your asses up!"

"I'll see what I can do. Good luck, Claire."

Just then, the Bosun walked up and rolled his eyes at the three playing dress-up.

"Hey, guys, how's about this for an idea? What if we put on a play for the crew, just to get them extra excited?"

Pintel looked at her cockeyed. "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking, you're about to break the curse, right? Why wouldn't you want a little teaser before the actual thing, just to make the satisfaction sweeter? And it'll be fun to scare the pants off Lizzie. What say ye to that?"

---

"Never will you breathe an air sweeter than Tortuga."

"Ehrm—Jack, Captain? We have a bit of a crisis..."

"Crisis? Whoever heard of a crisis in Tortuga? Excuse me, mate. Scarlet!"

—SMACK—

"I don't think I deserved that."

"And here comes Gizzelle and she's going to smack you, too, but we really need to go!" —SMACK—

"Why is this so pressing, Rick? Do you feel the need not to trust me?"

"Can we just skip the chit-chat, find Gibbs and go?"

"Fine, fine, but only because of your crazy future telling."

They quickly found Gibbs after untangling Ryan from a very large drunk woman, and explained they needed a crew as soon as possible.

"I'll find us a crew! There's bound to be some sailors on this rock crazy as you."

"One can only hope."

---

"Lady and—erhm—pirates! I present to you a play in one act by Peter Luellen Davies. I mean, erhm, Claire Johnson." She bowed and noone clapped.

"Once upon a time there was a band of pirates lead by the miraculous Captain Jack Sparrow!" Raggetti appeared drunk looking with a tri-corner hat and a dress. The crew all laughed.

"One day, mean old First Mate Barbossa," Pintel appeared in a long cloack and a crown. The crew cheered, hear hear! "came to the Captain and told him everything ought to be an equal share." Pintel reached around and pulled map out of the bossom of Raggetti's dress. "That night, there was a mutany and Jack was marooned." The crew cheered again as Raggetti was thrown onto an isolated piece of the cave.

---

It was dark now and the crazy crewmates were leaving for the dreaded island. However, the storm wasn't coming. The sky was cloudless and starry, a nearly full moon lighting their path.

Rick stood against the starboard rail, thinking. How could this be? All the timing had been somehow rearranged. Rick called upon the winds to help their speed. find elvish spell

Just as he finished, Will joined him at the rail.

He grunted. "Anamaria won't stop bickering with Jack about him losing her ship or something. They're driving me crazy!"

"Ah, yes, Captain Jack 'borrowed' her boat to sail into Port Royal, but he sunk it."

"Say, what's he up to? Something's not right about him. Working with decent hygenic people? Him, a pirate? It's not right."

"Jack's a decent fellow. I think he realizes he doesn't have to press a sword to someone's throat to get what he wants. Plus, look at the fellow, he's not very big and hardly intimmidating. He's cunning, Jack is. He knows he can get farther using his head and making allies than using his sword and making endless enemies."

"But essentially he _is_ using us."

"If that's the way you want to look at it."

They were both quiet for a minute.

"You know, he does care. Just like an other human being. He just has a different way of showing it."

"If you mean, like not at all, then yes, I see what you're saying."

"Well, keep in mind that he has his reputation as pirate to uphold as well—"

"Reputation to _uphold_?"

"You know what I mean. How Jack struggles to get through each day is an intricate balancing act. And you have to give it to him, he does it beautifully."

"If that's the way you want to look at it."

"You know, Will, you _really_ have to learn to put your faith in people a little more. You and Ryan both."

"You mean, just trust everyone, like Claire?" he snorted.

"Well, for starters, Claire doesn't trust everyone. She didn't trust me at first! She remembered me as an evil doctor taking her away from her mother. She trusts me now. She _loathes_ Norrington—"

"Oh, a wonderful example."

Rick turned to Will, looking him right in the eye. "Your precious Commodore literally slapped a label on Claire merely because she was seen with Jack."

"Well, so did I."

"Well, that makes you seem slightly shallow and ignorant and makes me want to lose some respect for you."

Will, somewhat embarrassed, looked back out to the rolling sea.

"Your beloved Commodore called Claire a slut before she even breathed a word. He treats you with no respect at all simply because you are a blacksmith and below him." Will tensed. "He thinks he has more of a right to Elizabeth than you simply because of that obnoxious wig of his. And you know the dear Governor would not approve of a marriage between the two of you."

Will hung his head, finally understanding.

"You see? I find it wise to go by a judge of schere character before trusting generalizations."

The two were quiet again. Ryan walked on the other side of Rick just then and hung his head like Will. He had heard, too.

"You know, my father was an inventor and he never gained an ounce of respect from anyone in the navy or government. When he died, the Governor said some wonderful things about him, and, as a naïve child, I chose to believe that he had finally acknowledged my father's efforts. Now after hearing you speak I realize that he still didn't respect him. He didn't even _know_ him. He only said those things to expand his campaign, to look more respectable, the governor who loves his common people."

He was quiet, his head still hung.

"What you said reminded me of some fatherly advice that I wasn't able to receive."

Rick smiled.

As he glanced up at the sea he saw a dim light in the distance and a mountain growing ever closer.

He rubbed the napes of their necks with either of his hands.

"Cheer up, boys. We're about to get our girls back."

Both men lifted their heads and smiled as the light coming from the dreaded island grew nearer.

---

"And then Barbossa lifted the knife and sliced Elizabeth's throat, the blood drawning Cortez's cursed treasure, relieving the 10 year curse," Claire recited.

Raggetti, now acting as Liz, fell over dramatically as Pintel sliced his throat with his deadly finger.

The real Elizabeth gulped and the surrounding pirates poked and jeered at her.

"Then the ever-powerful Barbossa ate a deliciously juicy apple and drank a full bottle of wine and fancied himself a trip to Tortuga where the beautifully loose women roam free."

The crew laughed lustfully.

Claire pulled Raggetti off the ground and grabbed hands with him and Pintel and the trio bowed.

To her surprise, the crew began clapping and cheering. Even Barbossa cracked a smile.

He approached her then. "Well done, lass. Perhaps we'll spare ye after all."

Claire held back a grimace. With that ending, she worried what they would spare her for.

"Heh, thanks."

Liz grabbed Claire and pulled her aside. "I thought you said 'prick of the finger'!"

"I did!:

"Forgive me if I'm wrong but that looked like a death scene!"

"Up you go!" Claire pushed her up the mountain of gold to the cursed chest where she stood trambling beside a smug looking Barbossa.

The crew began chanting again.

It was time for the Captain's speech, now.

Since everyone was preoccupied, Claire took the opportunity to check and see if her handsome pirate had arrived.

* * *

+ "Shut Me Up" by Mindless Self Indulgence :D 


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